Shinji Almighty
by UnderAGlassMoon
Summary: Shinji had reached a new low after killing Kaworu. With an estranged Misato, a catatonic Asuka and a Rei he cannot face, Shinji meets a man who would give him the gift of divine intervertion...for his own personal use!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

Shinji Ikari walked alone on the shores of the lake, created by the self destruction of Evangelion Unit 00. He remembered how when he walked on these shores before, he saw the figure of Kaworu Nagisa, quietly humming the melody from Beethoven's 9th Symphony, the Ode to Joy. Looking out onto the lake, he remembered that there used to be a colossal city in its place, built upon technology and science. Now, there was none of this. It was all gone, like footprints in the sand, washed away by the tide.

As well as this, he could barely speak to Misato now and he was sure it was his fault that she could no longer relate to him. Shinji knew that Kaji was dead and he knew that Misato was aggrieved due to that yet Shinji still felt that he could blame himself for Misato's state of mind. Asuka was in a hospital deep in a catatonic state, unresponsive to anyone and anything. Shinji felt like running to Asuka, to tell her that he needed her. However, there was no point. He should have said those things to her when he had the chance. Now, if he said anything to Asuka, he would receive no response. It was too late.

Along with that, Shinji discovered the true nature of Rei Ayanami. He discovered that Rei Ayanami was simply a clone who was replaceable. What was even more disturbing was the fact that she was partly cloned from Shinji's own mother. Shinji had never understood why he was so compelled towards her before but now he knew why. It was also that knowledge that repelled him from Rei now. He couldn't even begin to imagine what he would say to her. The last time Shinji conversed with Rei was after she had been found alive after Unit 00 self-destructed. That was before Dr Ritsuko Akagi showed both Misato and he the room where the spare Reis where kept. From then on, Shinji could barely even look at Rei without being reminded of the horrible images of the spare Reis breaking up and decomposing right in front of his eyes.

And then there was Shinji's father. Ever since Gendo Ikari had forced Shinji to attack Toji, he knew there was no turning back for his father. Shinji knew that his father ordered that activation of the dummy plug. Shinji knew that he had nothing to do with it. However, once again Shinji found it convenient to blame himself and also to blame his father. He declared that he hated his father that day and that he was willing to kill him, yet now Shinji wasn't so sure. Did he really have it in him to kill his own father, regardless of what he had been through? Shinji really didn't know.

Shinji didn't know about anything anymore. He just felt like wasting away and dying slowly and painfully. He did not want death to be quick. He did not want his death to be free from pain. He wanted death to torture him, to play games with him and to make it painful as possible. Shinji wanted to return to nothing. There was nothing left for Shinji. His friends were gone. Rei was a creation of others. Asuka was comatose. Misato couldn't look him in the eye. His father managed to show more neglect and contempt for Shinji than ever before. Shinji had nothing. Everything he once knew was swept away from in front of his eyes.

"I have nothing," Shinji muttered, in between tears that flowed off his face and into the waters of the crater that once was the city of Tokyo-3. Shinji then looked up into the clear blue sky that housed a peace and tranquillity which was overshadowed by the death and destruction down on the ground. Shinji continued to stare up at the sky and began to wonder about the stories about heaven and God. Was there really a God, Shinji began to ask himself. However, he was quick to answer his own questions. "No, there is no God," Shinji said bitterly. "No God would ever do this, not to anyone."

Shinji stood still, watching clouds slowly ease by in the sky. However, there were no birds or any discernable sounds created by animals. Even the ever present cicadas seemed to be barely audible from the scene. "If there is a God," Shinji continued, speaking to no one in particular, not even himself, "then he must have a cruel sense of humour, making the skies so blue over such a horrible place. This place only reminds me of pain and death. Why would God do something like this if he really existed? Why did he make me go through everything I did?" Shinji put his hands in his pocket and violently kicked at the sand. "If I were God, I wouldn't let anyone go through what I did," Shinji muttered.

"Is that so?" asked a voice from behind Shinji. The boy snapped his head around and found nobody to be there. Shinji scanned up to the horizon in that direction and soon assumed that he had just heard that voice and that it was all in his head. "Hey son, behind you," said that same voice. Shinji turned around once again toward the giant water filled crater. This time, he saw a man standing ankle deep in the water. He was black, in his mid sixties and was wearing a white suit. He also had an uncanny resemblance to Morgan Freeman.

"Would you care to join me for a walk, Shinji?" he asked.

"How do you…how do you know my name?" Shinji said, stuttering slightly as he did.

The old man chuckled and said, "Let's just say Shinji, that I know quite a lot of things. Anyway, are you still up for that walk or am I just going to stand here in the water getting my feet all wrinkly?"

"Ah...!" Shinji said, moving forward hastily to join the man. "Uh, okay, I'll join you."

The man set off to his left and Shinji walked beside him, not quite knowing why he was walking with him and not quite knowing who this man was. "Who are you?" Shinji inquired as he walked with the man at a leisurely pace.

"Well, I don't tend to give my identity out freely," the man said with another chuckle. "But here's a clue. Everybody knows me."

"Everybody knows you?" Shinji said in a confused tone.

"That's right," the man said. "Everybody knows me. Not for the right reasons in many cases, but everybody knows me nonetheless."

"I don't know where to start," Shinji sighed. "Are you a politician?"

The old black man stopped walking and burst out into laughter, having to bend down and put his hands on his knees because he was laughing so hard. "Haha! That was a good one Shinji!" he said. "I'm not quite a politician, but that was a very good guess! Jeez, I haven't laughed like that in a while!"

"I don't know then," Shinji said. "Who would everybody know?"

"I don't know. You tell me!"

"I'm trying to think…but it's kind of a hard time for me at the moment," Shinji explained. "Everything is so confusing…I can't even think straight."

"Yes, Shinji, I know you've been through a lot, with Evangelion and all," the man noted.

Shinji snapped his head around to face the man and Shinji's face bore an expression of pure surprise. "You know about Eva?!" Shinji exclaimed.

"I already said I know quite a lot of things, didn't I?" the old man said with the remnants of the laughter from Shinji's suggestion that he was a politician.

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain how you know about Eva," Shinji pointed out.

"And how I know about Misato, Asuka, Rei, Toji, Kaworu and your father and mother?" the man added.

Shinji stopped dead in his tracks. "You know about everything, don't you?" he asked.

"I know everything about you, Shinji, right from when you were conceived. I know everything about your mother and father, about Misato, Asuka, Rei, everybody," the man said. "Any clue who I am yet?"

"I still have no idea…am I dreaming or something?" Shinji said in a state of utter confusion.

"No, don't worry, you're not dreaming," the man said, reassuring the boy. "Shinji, I am God."

Shinji wasn't so sure of that. "So wait, you're saying you're God?" he asked. "How come you look like Morgan Freeman?"

"You know how they said I created man in my image? Well, I created Morgan Freeman almost exactly in my image," God chuckled.

"I'm still not so sure," Shinji continued. "How am I sure that you're not just Morgan Freeman?"

"Because Morgan Freeman can't do this," said God. He snapped his fingers and suddenly Shinji found himself standing in the golden sands of a Caribbean island. Shinji's jaw was then literally hanging open. "Pretty neat, huh?" God chuckled.

"Okay, I think I'm convinced," Shinji said, struggling to keep his mouth shut.

"That's good," God said. "Feel free to kick your shoes off and walk into the water. It's absolutely splendid this time of year."

Shinji didn't see any reason not to, so he removed his shoes and walked out into the ocean water, feeling the gentle waves brush over his ankles. Even the sand felt soft and inviting. "Wow! The water's so warm," Shinji exclaimed.

"It's sweet, huh?" God said, walking out into the water with Shinji. "Several thousand miles in that direction is America. Even further away in that direction is Africa. If you go up the way a bit you'll find Europe."

"And you could take us there in an instant?" Shinji inquired.

"Yup. I don't even have to snap my fingers. I just do that for effect. Moses was particularly impressed by that," God said.

Shinji laughed as he ran about the water, kicking the crystal clear water up into the humid, tropical air as he ran. He seemed to have forgotten about his troubles but then again, not many people are greeted randomly by God. "I'm glad to see you enjoying yourself, Shinji," God said.

"Thanks," Shinji said. "You know, I just don't know what to say about meeting God, to be honest."

"You don't have to say anything, Shinji. I'm just a regular guy…sort of," God chuckled.

"Why…why did you come and speak to me?" Shinji asked.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" God asked back.

"Uh…well…no it isn't really," Shinji answered.

"Well, think about what you were saying before I came and dropped by," God said.

"I was…talking about how there wasn't really a God," Shinji replied.

"And?" God said, gesturing to get Shinji to continue by spinning his right forearm.

"And that if I was God I wouldn't let anyone go through anything I did," Shinji said.

"Bingo!" God cried with a smile. "Hit the nail on the head there."

"So was that why you came to me?" Shinji asked.

"Not really. I get that all the time," God replied. "But I was drawn to you Shinji. You had been through quite a bit, more than your average fourteen year old. You were tasked to defend humanity, yet also unknowingly progress the Earth toward Third Impact."

"I was what?!" Shinji exclaimed.

"You didn't know it, but your father and a group of men known as SEELE had planned to start a Third Impact once the angels had all been defeated. Anyway, that's beside the point. You were tasked with piloting man's attempt at creating their own God and they dubbed it Evangelion. Because of Evangelion, you have suffered pain like no other. You watched your friends attacked by angels and even your own kind. You experienced more torment than most people would experience in their entire lives in a couple of months, yet you have never complained about me until that moment when everything was absolutely rock bottom for you. That made me curious and trust me; my curiosity is a hard thing to attract. You attracted my curiosity because you stood many times in the face of adversity and gritted your teeth through it all. You said you couldn't believe how I could put you through all of that? Well, I'm as guilty as charged. All the pain and suffering on this planet is my fault. The world was made imperfect and it was made imperfect for a reason. You can blame all your pain on me if you wish but it was just the way that I made mankind. After that, I kind of left mankind to its own devices, checking on them every now and then."

"So you let mankind run its course?" Shinji asked.

"Exactly, so everything that happens is my fault but the way I see it, imperfection is beauty. Would you not agree?"

"I guess so."

"So, here you are in a far from perfect world, nearly at your breaking point when you decide that if you were me, you wouldn't allow one person to go through what you did. I'm interested to see you do that, Shinji."

"You're what?!" Shinji exclaimed.

"You're going to take my job for a while. I need the holiday anyway," God reiterated.

"Wait just one second! What do you mean I'm going to take your job?!" Shinji cried.

"Well, you get all my powers and abilities and you get to do anything you want with them for the duration of my holiday. I'll even put you back in time a bit to make things easier for yourself, which is something I don't usually do," God explained.

"You're sending me back in time?!"

"Yup," God said with a toothy smile. "That is, if you agree to take up my job."

"I…I…I'll do it!" Shinji said with utter determination.

"That's great Shinji," God said with a sigh of relief. "My job was getting quite hard as well, what with Second Impact and the angel attacks. A lot to look out for. Anyway, good luck with everything Shinji. I'll be back when I'm back."

"Thanks a lot God," Shinji said, moving up to shake hands with God.

"If you need to reach me, you know how."

"Wait! I don't know! How do I reach you?"

"Just pray Shinji…just pray."

* * *

Shinji awoke and found himself under a familiar ceiling, which was a pleasant change. It was both his and Asuka's room conjoined, seemingly at the time that they were fighting the 7th angel, the one that could split into two. Shinji found it strange to be back at a time where he had little worries in comparison to what he would be bound to face. However, at the same time, he still had a niggling doubt that what he just experienced was all just a dream. One giant figment of his imagination. Despite his doubts, the fact that the time spanning from his arrival at Tokyo-3 to the point he met God was implanted clearly in his memory and that it seemed to take months was testament to the fact that it hadn't all been a dream.

Shinji didn't feel like getting up and continued to lie there, staring up at the ceiling. Everything should have seemed surreal and out of place but rather to the contrary, everything seemed real and right. Shinji felt right at home lying down with the covers down at his knees, his head on the pillow and his right hand on Asuka's left boob.

_My right hand on Asuka's left boob? Wait…that can't be right! _Shinji thought, his brain suddenly going into overdrive. However, it was far too late. "Ah…morning," Asuka muttered before she felt a light pressure on a certain part of her anatomy. The right thing to have done was to pretend to be asleep but Shinji couldn't think quickly enough. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE PLAYING AT??" Asuka roared before unleashing the fury upon the boy.

After receiving sixty-eight thousand of the best, Shinji was tossed head first out of the front door of Misato's flat with blood pouring out every possible place and his face purple from the bruising. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT COMING BACK UNTIL I'M READY TO NOT BE MAD AT YOU!!" Asuka screamed before slamming the door shut.

"Argh…" Shinji moaned in absolute agony. "I wish the pain would go away."

And just like that, the pain was gone. Shinji lay there, slightly confused that he no longer felt the sheer burning sensations that his body would register to his brain to tell him that he had been maimed. It was all gone. Shinji stood up and brushed himself off and wondered if this had anything to do with his conversation with God. To find out, Shinji set off on a trek about Tokyo-3.

Shinji began to walk down into town and couldn't be bothered making the effort to walk. As he trudged on, he hoped that someone he knew passed by him and gave him a lift. Before he knew it, he heard the deep growling of a mid-engine sports car to his right. "Hey Shinji! Kaji here! You going into town? If you are, then I'll give you a run in!" Shinji ran and hopped into the passenger side of Kaji's car and once he was sat with his seatbelt on, he smiled deviously.

Shinji felt hungry after Kaji had dropped him off and went into a local restaurant for some breakfast. Shinji ordered the most expensive breakfast on the menu along with a double espresso. He devoured his meal before awaiting the bill to see if it wasn't just good fortune on his part for everything that had happened so far. "Thank you for eating with us, sir," said the waiter. "Here is the bill." The waiter placed it front of Shinji. Shinji, on the other hand, looked up at the waiter with a certain thought in mind.

Before he knew it, the manager, a plump man with a balding head of hair and a face that easily went red was stood next to the waiter, all cheery faced. "Hey, this kid must be the first costumer we've had all day! For that, we'll make your meal on the house, eh?" he declared. Shinji smiled, knowing that he was all powerful and omnipotent.

Shinji walked outside with a full belly and as he walked past a fire hydrant, he pointed at it. The hydrant then burst and water was sent flying into the air, all over the white t-shirt of a very good looking female university student with a rather large bust. At the same moment, she walked over an open manhole and her skirt was blown up, forcing her to try and keep it down. Shinji turned around and saw the girl and smiled before heading off again.

Shinji was really getting into being all powerful. He walked with a new sense of confidence in his step and could smile easily now with his new power. He walked along the street, smiling as he passed people who smiled back freely. Shinji was sure that things were really in for a change.

"Someone! Help! That thief has my purse!" cried a woman. Shinji looked to his left and saw a rather attractive damsel in distress, in the same league as Misato, running after a man in a balaclava. The thief had the woman's purse tucked under his armpit as he ran towards Shinji. The thief was about to run past Shinji when Shinji stuck his arm out and clothes-lined the thief, sending him back flipping into the ground. Shinji's arm was still outstretched where it was with the purse gripped in his hand.

"Oh my god! Thank you so much! How could I ever repay you?!" the woman said as she took her purse back into her possession.

"Oh, there's no need," Shinji said in his most manly, superhero-esc voice.

"You're so kind!" the woman said. All of a sudden, she placed two hands on either of Shinji's cheeks before drawing him in for a giant smooch on the lips. "There you go! It's hardly thanks enough but you have my gratitude," the woman said.

"It's more than enough, ma'am," Shinji said, wondering how that woman ended up kissing him out of her own accord. Shinji had used his power to stop the thief but everything that followed happened on its own. He smiled once more before continuing with his day.

Shinji amused himself as he went by testing out his powers. For instance, he passed a couple in the park making out on a bench. As he walked by, he made the bench snap, just to see how the couple reacted. Shinji struggled to contain his laughter at certain moments like that. Shinji also got free ice-cream from a vendor as well, using his powers for his own gain just at the moment. He was loving it. Everything was made so simple and easy. People would be nice to him even if he hadn't wanted them to in the first place. Shinji thanked God once again for the fortune as he prepared to head back. However, he stopped by a florist's shop and eyed up a bouquet of red roses. "Hey buddy, you like those roses?" the shop owner asked.

"Yeah, actually," Shinji replied, before letting his powers do the rest.

"You know, just take 'em. Give 'em to that special person in your life," the shop owner said, all smiles.

"Oh, wow! Thanks a lot!" Shinji said, smiling because his powers had worked once again.

When he arrived back at Misato's flat, he saw that Asuka was in her room as she had the door locked and a sign saying, 'DO NOT ENTER. IF YOU ENTER AND YOUR NAME IS SHINJI, YOU WILL DIE'. Shinji shrugged his shoulders and went about preparing lunch. "Hmm," Shinji thought aloud. "What could I prepare?" He then laughed, rather maniacally, before beginning to prepare a German style buffet for Asuka. However, it proved to be monotonous, so he sped up the process slightly by making his arms work twice as fast. Before he knew it, Shinji had prepared a proper German style buffet with the table set. He had the bouquet of roses on Asuka's side of the table. Everything was set. All that was needed was Asuka.

As Shinji approached her door, he decided that he would not use his powers and let Asuka think for herself. It would be unfair on her if he made her forgive him. He approached Asuka's door and with each step, got more nervous. Each step made him more and more uneasy. He felt the first sweat bead begin to trickle down his face as he got within a metre of the door. He felt his throat become dry and his hands begin to clam up. It was no wonder as well because that morning, Asuka had beat Shinji to within an inch of his life. Who was to say that she wouldn't just plant a punch right into Shinji's face without warning as soon as Shinji opened the door?

Well, it was risk that Shinji was willing to take…kind of. Before he knew it, Shinji was stood right in front of Asuka's door. His right hand slowly formed a fist and prepared to knock on the door of the lioness's den. His arm shook as he raised it, just reminding Shinji of how nervous he actually was. He took one deep breath, swallowed hard and crossed the fingers of his left hand before knocking the door.

"What is it?!" asked the annoyed voice of Asuka from within her lair.

"Um, lunch is ready," Shinji said in a voice that resembled a whisper, but not quite as loud.

"I SAID WHAT IS IT?!" Asuka raged, making Shinji literally jump about a metre back.

"Lunch is ready!" Shinji cried, much like a little girl.

Before he knew it, Asuka's door was open. And boy, did she look pissed off. She looked Shinji in the eyes with an expression that would have brought any exorcist to their knees, begging for a fair judgement after the demon ate them whole. She edged up to Shinji and Shinji edged back for fear of his own life. Asuka grunted and Shinji screamed in a pitch too high for a boy of his age and leapt backwards like a frightened gazelle. Asuka continued to approach Shinji, her enraged eyes locked onto Shinji's whimpering, cowardly body. Shinji continued to move back as Asuka approached, like a tiger on the prowl, slowly stalking its prey into a corner where it would be trapped, open to attack. Shinji made a big deal of her animal like state. _DOES SHE THINK I'M LUNCH??_ Shinji cried in his mind.

Asuka took one big step forward and Shinji leapt up and grabbed a hold of the light hanging from the ceiling. Asuka was about to rip him down from the light and main him once again like he deserved for placing his hands anywhere near her perfect body when she saw the meal laid out on the table. She saw the roses and she immediately recognised the meal to be the cuisine of her home country. Suddenly, her expression changed. Her evil and violent animal-like demeanour was gone. She was instantly calmed, as if the beast within her had been hit by a tranquiliser dart.

"Shinji?" Asuka asked.

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-yeah?" Shinji whimpered, stilling hanging from the light.

"Did you make this?" Asuka inquired.

"Um, y-y-yeah," Shinji replied.

"And did you get me these flowers?" Asuka asked next.

"Yeah," Shinji answered, slowly making his way off of the light, feeling that his weight was about to rip the fixture out of the ceiling.

Shinji stood up and watched Asuka look over the food on the table and then the flowers. He must have counted as she scanned over everything no less than three times. Then she turned around, giving Shinji a fright. She didn't look anything like she had before when it looked like she was going to eat him but she didn't look happy either. She walked up to Shinji and the boy felt as if his legs were stuck in cement that had just set. He could not for the life of him move.

Asuka raised her hand and Shinji closed his eyes, expecting an impending fist. He waited and waited but the punch didn't seem to come. Instead, he felt Asuka's right hand softly caress his cheek. When he opened his eyes, he felt Asuka's lips on his right cheek, giving him a quick peck. She quickly pulled back and Shinji saw that she was blushing. "That was…that was sweet Shinji," Asuka said, looking around the room everywhere except right in Shinji's eyes, clearly showing she was slightly nervous. "You're a total idiot and a loser for what you did this morning but I forgive you. The meal and the flowers, it was really sweet."

Shinji could not believe what he was hearing. Did Asuka just say that Shinji had done something sweet? Shinji covertly pinched himself on the ass just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He felt the pain. He sure wasn't dreaming. "Well, what are we waiting for?" Asuka said, in a sudden change of tone. "Let's eat!"

"Yeah," Shinji said, "let's eat."

* * *

"Wow! You two really aced that routine!" said a very impressed Misato Katsuragi. Shinji and Asuka had just demonstrated their ability to perform the choreographed battle sequence with an audience. Rei, Hikari, Toji and Kensuke were all present. "Very impressive," Hikari added, giving the two her approval through applause.

"Shinji seems to be getting awful close to the demon," Toji muttered.

"Yeah, but you have to admit, they did that routine perfectly," Kensuke pointed out.

"That might be a sign that the devil is slowly taking over our friend!" Toji said.

"Don't say things like that!" Hikari snapped.

"Who are you to tell me what to say and what not to say?!" Toji bellowed.

Soon, it all descended into all out chaos with Shinji and Asuka looking over it all and shaking their heads. Rei remained indifferent to all that occurred. Shinji then thought of something that would really shut them all up. As Toji and Hikari argued with Kensuke failing miserably as a mediator, Pen-Pen waddled up to the table and said, "Wark!" to catch the attention of everybody. It then reached out with its flipper for Misato's can of beer, lifted it up off of the table and began to drink it.

"What kind of penguin…drinks beer?!" Toji exclaimed.

"Hey, hang on a second! That's MY BEER!" Misato cried before entering a royal rumble with the penguin for the ultimate prize of a half drunk can of beer. Shinji and Asuka couldn't help but laugh at the spectacle of pet versus owner and Shinji made it so that even Rei joined in laughing which was the next shock to everybody.

All faces were traced onto Rei. "What?" was the blue haired girl's indignant response to everyone's stares.

"Ayanami, you just laughed!" Kensuke pointed out.

"And?" Rei asked next.

"Well…it's just…oh, to hell with it! Rei can laugh if she wants!" Toji declared.

"Hear, hear! Misato cheered after lifting her beer can right up into the air with the penguin still attached to it. Shinji smiled at his cunning and once again decided it was great being all powerful.

* * *

It was soon the last night before they would embark on the operation. Shinji had memories of the last time he had lived through this. They generally were not good and involved angst. Angst was a word no longer in Shinji's dictionary. "Where's Misato?" Asuka inquired.

"She's working late!" Shinji replied.

"So we're home alone tonight?"

"Yeah."

As Shinji remembered, Asuka lifted up her covers and went to her own room and dropped the covers there. She then closed off the wall before opening it again. Asuka was on all fours and a considerable amount of her cleavage was on show. "This is the impenetrable Wall of Jericho, Shinji. If you dare…" Asuka said before Shinji stopped paying attention. He was staring down her top, as perverted that may have been. He was wondering what it would have been like if Asuka's breasts had been bigger and all of a sudden, he watched Asuka's breasts increase in size ever so slightly.

Asuka stopped mid sentence and looked down her top and sized her breasts up with her hands. "Is it just me or are my boobs bigger?" she asked. Shinji was about to have a fit from excessive exposure to Asuka being so goddamn hot when Asuka realised her company. "Oh yeah…Shinji…YOU IDIOT!!" Asuka cried, sending a pillow at several hundred miles an hour at Shinji's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He regained his wind using his powers but still, he never expected Asuka's boobs to grow upon him thinking about it. Shinji decided that he had to be careful what he thought about because his powers might just get the better of him.

Shinji stood up and knocked on the door which separated him and Asuka. It was snapped opened by an annoyed German redhead who looked ready to kill. "What?!" she snapped.

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for being an idiot," Shinji said. "I know I should have been looking. I'm sorry." Asuka gave Shinji a shove back so that he fell backwards onto his ass. Asuka then chuckled and said, "It's okay, you're forgiven. Good night."

"Uh, good night!" Shinji replied before Asuka closed the door off. Then he wondered if it had always been that easy to secure Asuka's forgiveness. With that thought, the omnipotent and all powerful Shinji went to bed.

* * *

"This is it," said Misato, overlooking all of the other NERV staff on the command bridge. "You two understand the operation?" Misato inquired.

"Yes ma'am!" both Shinji and Asuka replied.

"Okay, the angel is approaching. Get ready to launch!" Misato ordered.

Inside Eva Unit 01, Shinji was intending to use his powers to make this fight as easy as humanly possible. Or as Godly possible, in his case. Shinji smiled at the thought and prepared himself for the launch of his Evangelion. "Hey Shinji, you ready for this?" Asuka asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Shinji replied. "You?"

"Just think about who you're asking!" Asuka snapped.

"Okay, sorry, bad question," Shinji said.

There was a moments silence before Asuka said, "To answer your question, then yes, I am ready."

"That's good to hear," Shinji said.

"Damn right it is! Now let's get this thing over with!" Asuka said.

"Angel in sight, Captain Katsuragi!" said Makoto Hyuga.

"Good! Eva Units 01 and 02, LAUNCH!" Misato cried.

Shinji and Asuka were propelled into the air as the music began in a big flurry of notes. They then went to ground, delivering a kick to the angel, knowing that this would split it in two. However, after that kick, the angel toppled over backwards, as one, dead. The music screeched to a halt and Misato was stood with her jaw open. "What…the…fuc-" she began to say.

"Angel is dead!" Makoto interjected with a massive sweat drop over his head, having barely stopped Misato swearing in the presence of the deputy commander.

"The angel is…dead?" Asuka asked.

"As a doornail," Shigeru Aoba replied.

"I can't believe it. It was that easy?" Asuka asked, slightly annoyed.

"I guess so," Shinji said, smiling to himself, knowing that he had made the angel as brittle as an egg for the purposes of this angel battle. It made his life easier and everyone else's life easier as well. "Well, I better tell Kaji that there wasn't much point to that choreographed routine," Misato said in absolute bewilderment.

"I guess, but look at the bright side," Ritsuko said. "The angel was easily disposed of. Easy battles are good battles, right?"

"Yup. Thank God for that as well," Misato muttered.

Shinji smiled when Misato said that.

And on a beach in Hawaii, God leaned back in his recliner and smiled as Shinji smiled. "Knock 'em dead, kid," he chuckled as he sipped juice out of a hollowed coconut and went about relaxing and taking it easy. Even God needs a holiday every now and then, right?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

"What? You mean we can't go to Okinawa?!" Asuka cried in utter dismay. 

"Yup," Misato replied, all nonchalant with her can of beer in hand.

"Why the hell not?!" demanded an enraged Asuka.

Shinji could picture the scene all in his head: Misato was dressed lilac trousers and a blue frilly jacket garnished with gold lanyards. In her hands was a red cape, a _muleta _in Spanish. She was stood in the middle of a sandy area and Shinji was the only spectator high up in the stands. Asuka entered and took the form of a bull with razor sharp horns. Misato held out the red cape, enticing and enraging the bull Asuka, trying to lure the bull into charging.

"Because you two are on duty," Misato replied, snapping Shinji out of his little daydream.

"But…can't I go and leave Shinji and Rei here to defend the city?" Asuka continued, knowing that she was really scraping out of the bottom of the barrel now.

"The answer is still no and you know the reason why you can't go," Misato said, putting her foot firmly down on this issue.

"Argh!" groaned Asuka, knowing that she was beat. However, there was still one more card Asuka could still play, although in her mind it signalled utter desperation. "Shinji?! Don't you have anything to say?" Asuka snapped.

At that moment, Shinji pressed the universal 'pause' button and made everything stop in their tracks. Shinji then summoned the divine schedule and had the large book held out open in front of him. "Hmm, the next angel attack is scheduled for tomorrow," Shinji noted. "So if I moved it forward a week or two, we could go to Okinawa if I made Misato see the error of her ways using my powers. Do I really even want to go to Okinawa though? I can't even swim!"

Shinji sat there and pondered this dilemma out while everything around him stayed absolutely static. Finally, after much deliberation with himself, Shinji decided that he would not go to Okinawa and let events play out as they did. He unfroze time and saw that Asuka was still expecting a response from him.

Shinji had, however, forgotten the question.

Asuka began to look annoyed. "Well? Cat got your tongue?" she asked. Shinji looked like a rabbit in headlights and was forced to pause time to try and regain his lost composure. "What the heck did Asuka even ask me?" Shinji asked, rummaging through his memory for the answer. However, his rummaging came to no avail. "Argh! This is annoying," Shinji cried.

However, a brainwave struck the boy. Why not just rewind time back to when Asuka asked the question? It was the perfect solution. Shinji pictured a giant remote drifting though the depths of the universe. He then imagined that the rewind button had been depressed and Shinji watched everything move backwards a few seconds. He paused it at the point Asuka was about to open her mouth to ask Shinji the question. Content at that, Shinji pressed play once more.

"Shinji?! Don't you have anything to say?" Asuka snapped.

_Ah, _Shinji thought. _That was Asuka's question. _"Well, I was kind of expecting this," Shinji answered. "We had to be on duty, right?"

"Oh, for God's sake, can't you be more of a man? There's nothing worse than a house broken male!" Asuka cried in exasperation.

"I like house broken males," Misato pointed out after taking a sip of her beer.

"You would though!" Asuka snapped. "And for another thing…"

Shinji sensed that Asuka was about to begin one of her hour long rants that made people with the most solid of constitutions seemed like pussies. For that reason, Shinji reached out for his universal remote control and pressed the 'mute' button for a well earned break from Asuka's voice. Even though Shinji did think Asuka was so goddamned hot, there were times where a mute button came handy.

* * *

Asuka had decided that they would make the most of not being able to go down to Okinawa by going to NERV's Olympic sized swimming pool for some rest and relaxation. Shinji had some outstanding physics homework but assigned Pen-Pen to do it for him. However, it hadn't been easy. 

"Say, Pen-Pen, how would you like to do my physics homework?" Shinji asked. The penguin indignantly shook his head before trying to escape back to his fridge. "Come on, Pen-Pen. You know you're better than me at Physics," Shinji pleaded. "I'll give you a sardine." The penguin turned its head around at the offer of food, but then shook his head, deciding that one sardine was not enough to do this human's homework. "Two sardines?" Shinji inquired. The penguin shook his head once more. "Okay…how about four sardines and a can of beer?" Shinji tried hopefully. And with that, the deal was sealed.

Shinji had come along to the pool with Asuka and Rei but knew that he wasn't the strongest of swimmers. Actually, his style of swimming was commonly referred to as 'drowning'. Shinji looked at the water and swallowed hard. He may have Godly powers, but his fear of the blue wet stuff in the pool had made him incapable of moving.

"Hey, what's the matter Shinji?" Asuka asked with a coy grin. "Afraid of the water?"

"Uh…no!" Shinji said.

"Okay, then you should be fine with me doing this!" Asuka cried. The redhead planted her hand into the small of Shinji's back and sent him plummeting over the edge straight into the deep end of the pool. Shinji would have most certainly drowned had he not given himself to ability to swim the moment he hit the water. Then he wondered why he went through at that fuss. He was God after all.

Shinji swam about for a bit, trying to adjust to his new ability of being able to swim. Asuka didn't understand it. "Why didn't you want to go into the pool?" she asked.

"I don't know!" Shinji replied. "You coming in? The water's great!"

"Fine! I will!" Asuka said before leaping into the water next to Shinji.

Shinji stuck both his arms out to shield himself from the water splashing from Asuka's entry into the water. Shinji had also turned his head away and laughed as the water splattered over him. However, when he turned around, Asuka was far from laughing. Shinji's left hand had inadvertently landed in a convenient position; over both of Asuka's breasts. "YOU STUPID IDIOT!!!" she roared. Shinji made sure to turn off the bodily function of pain as Asuka provided Shinji with a soaring right uppercut that would have made Mohammad Ali proud. Shinji actually felt himself lift out of the water from the sheer force of the punch.

"Don't even dare come near me!" Asuka warned vehemently. "I know your stupid perverted game now!" Shinji let his limp body float up to the surface of the water. Asuka had climbed out of the pool and promptly made her exit. Shinji floated there, glad that he had turned his ability to feel pain off just in time. He turned his head and looked over to his left and saw Rei sitting at the edge of the pool. She looked rather perplexed.

"I do not understand," she said.

"You don't understand what?" Shinji inquired.

"I do not understand why Asuka struck you," Rei answered.

"What? Is it not obvious?"

"No, not really."

_Ah, yeah, _Shinji thought. _Rei's got no sense of bodily privacy as I learnt when I first went to her place. I should probably explain this concept to her. It just might come in handy for Rei. _

"Well Rei," Shinji began, "I touched Asuka in an inappropriate place."

"Her breasts, yes? Why is this place inappropriate?" Rei inquired.

"Huh?" Shinji said, taken aback by Rei's blunt response. "Well, um, that place is considered inappropriate because it's one of a girl's private parts."

"Do boys not have breasts as well?" Rei asked next.

Shinji sweat-dropped, "Uh, not really, no."

"Well, you as a boy have nipples and that would imply you have breasts, does it not?"

Several more sweat drops appeared over Shinji's head. _How did nipples come into it?! _Shinji screamed in his head. "You know what Rei? How about we just leave it at that it's an inappropriate place to touch a girl unless people are really close or lovers. You should probably remember this."

"So you and Asuka are lovers?" Rei asked next.

"NO!" Shinji cried, suddenly losing all of his body's natural buoyancy. When he remerged from the water, he said, "Asuka hit me! You see?! I touched her in a bad place and she hit me! See? It tells you that WE AREN'T LOVERS!"

"I see," Rei said. "Okay, I think I understand now."

Shinji's mouth hung open for Rei had surprised him once again. "Really? You understand?" Shinji asked.

"Really," Rei replied, giving the boy what could be deemed to be a smile. It was Rei, after all. "Ah, okay," Shinji said. "I'm _really_ glad we cleared that up. I'm gonna go and apologise to Asuka, okay?"

"Very well. I am going to continued swimming," Rei said.

"Cool, okay."

Shinji got out of the pool and headed off to the changing rooms in search of a certain German redhead. However, it appeared she was nowhere to be seen. Shinji looked all over the changing rooms and again, there was no sign of her. He decided against using his God given powers to try and locate her and went to the showers to clean off the chlorine treated pool water off his body and out of his hair.

He entered the room where the showers were. They were separated into different cubicles for the sake of privacy, as NERV had neglected to make separate male and female changing rooms for the swimming pool. He saw that one of the showers was already running. _So Asuka was in the showers. Oh well, I'll apologise later, _Shinji thought.

However, Asuka's shower stopped and Shinji suddenly became paralysed. He didn't know whether it was fear or uncertainty but one thing was for sure; he couldn't move a muscle! It was a whole thirty seconds when Asuka emerged, wrapped in a towel. She saw Shinji and immediately, the expression of contentedness from the shower turned to a scowl of disgust. "Here for more you stupid pervert?!" Asuka raged. "Why, I ought to…"

However, as Asuka moved in for the kill, her foot slipped on the wet tiled floor and she went flying forward. She would have fallen flat on her face had it not been for Shinji. He had managed to catch her in his arms. The entire scene was a cliché. Asuka had literally fallen into Shinji's arms and both of them were looking at each other with eyes filled with desire.

"Shinji…you idiot…"

"Asuka…"

"Greetings," said Rei, who had just entered the shower area. Shinji and Asuka were now both paralysed as Rei walked right by the two of them. They both looked like they were rabbits in the middle of a crossroads with headlights heading at them from all directions. Rei made no fuss of the position that her two fellow Eva pilots were in and sauntered nonchalantly into a shower cubicle, leaving Shinji and Asuka in a state of total and utter astonishment in the revelation that someone had walked past them when they were staring into each other's eyes with Asuka in Shinji's arms.

"Um, okay, that was weird," Shinji said.

"Understatement of the millennium," Asuka said, even more shocked than Shinji. "You can uh…let go of me now."

"Huh? Oh yeah!" Shinji said, moving away from the girl. Both blushed furiously before Shinji managed to make his way into a shower cubicle after walked head first into the door. Asuka stumbled out of the shower area, feeling drink with astonishment at what just happened.

* * *

God was sat in a hot tub with three beautiful Hawaiian girls, sitting back and enjoying his holiday. He smiled because he knew of the predicaments Shinji had been getting into at the pool. God took a sip of his fresh orange juice from the hollow shell of a coconut and said, "Don't think I wasn't going to make it interesting for you, Shinji." God then chuckled and lay back, allowing warm bubbly water to soak him as he fell into a deeper state of relaxation.

* * *

There was the discovery of the angel inside Mount Asama, a volcano located centrally in the island of Honshu. The angel was still in an embryonic state and the decision had been made to capture it. This was a radical and controversial decision, one that Shinji had obviously seen before. Misato had the operation all planned to capture the angel. Shinji had the operation to cause some embarrassment to his father all planned as well. 

Shinji watched as Gendo Ikari appeared up on top of the commander's perch and went towards his seat. Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki was already present and was trying to stifle a laugh. "What is it, Fuyutsuki?" Gendo inquired.

"Nothing Ikari," Fuyutsuki replied, the strain apparent in his voice. Gendo ignored whatever it was and went towards his seat once again. He began to sit down and never noticed the whoopee cushion strategically placed on his seat.

"PPPPFFFRRRT!" was the noise that leaked from Gendo's backside. The commander winced while the entirety of Central Dogma burst out into laughter. Shinji smiled to himself, knowing that it had been worth influencing Fuyutsuki's mind using his Godly powers for a prank this rich. Gendo himself looked rather pissed off and Fuyutsuki was still trying to stifle his laughter, very much in vain.

"Fuyutsuki?" Gendo asked in annoyance.

"Yes…Ikari," the deputy commander responded, struggling even more to keep his laughter in.

"Was that you?"

"Yes…Ikari," Fuyutsuki said before giving in to the laughs and burst out himself.

With that very important task completed, Shinji went to the mission brief for the upcoming capture mission. "So, I need either Shinji or Asuka to volunteer to go down and retrieve the angel," Misato said.

"Why can't Wondergirl do it?" Asuka inquired.

"Eva Unit 00 isn't designed for the D-type equipment," Misato explained. "Any other questions?"

"No ma'am," Asuka answered.

"Good. So who's it gonna be?" Misato asked.

"I'm not fussy," Shinji said.

"Neither am I," Asuka added. "Although I think if I went, I could prove that I am the ultimate Eva pilot, battling in super high temperature and pressure!"

Misato sweat-dropped, "Yeah, I guess there is that. Shinji, do you have a motivation like that to go and capture the angel?"

"Well, not really," Shinji said.

"It's settled then! Asuka's going to be the teeth of the tiger! Shinji, you'll be on support," Misato declared.

"Not that I'd need him," Asuka said indignantly.

"It's just standard operating procedures," Shinji pointed out.

"Whatever," Asuka said.

* * *

A mobile command centre had been established near a fissure in the ground that led into an underground river of lava. Their target was in that river and Asuka would go down and retrieve it. She was still annoyed that she looked fat because of her modified plug suit but it was all in the sake of saving mankind. 

"Why didn't Shinji volunteer for this instead of me?!" Asuka cried as she awaited zero hour.

"He did. You just chose to do it instead," Misato pointed out.

"Whatever," was Asuka's response. "I just hate being in this inflated plug suit with my Unit 02 cooped up in fat armour!"

"It's either that or a slow, punishing death inside the lava," said the voice of Dr Ritsuko Akagi. "Take your pick."

"Okay, I get your point," Asuka moaned.

"Shinji, how are you doing?" Misato inquired.

"I'm fine," Shinji replied with a smile.

"That's good to hear!" Misato chirped. "Okay. Let's get this show on the road!"

_In reality, I am as bored as hell. I'm really tempted to push that fast forward button but I'm afraid I might miss the action, _Shinji thought. _So the plan is, as soon as Asuka catches the angel, make it escape and allow Asuka to kill it with one blow. That way, everybody's happy and nobody gets hurt. Well, expect the angel, of course. Now I just have to wait._

Shinji watched as Eva Unit 02 was hoisted up, getting ready to descend into a flowing river of lava. "Here goes nothing," Asuka said as her Eva got closer and closer to the lava. She felt it heat up considerably as she got closer and even began sweating. However, she remained confident and prepared for the task at hand. Before she knew it, her Eva was submerged in the lava and she kept on going down and down and down. As she continued to descend deeper, she felt it become hotter up to the point where it became very uncomfortable. However, she gritted her teeth and continued the descent with NERV staff overlooking up above.

"How's she doing?" Misato inquired.

"Everything looks fine," Ritsuko replied. "Coolant flow is nominal. Green light to continue." Misato nodded and continued to focus on the video feed for any developments. Asuka also kept her eyes peeled but the visibility in the lava was basically zero.

"Do you have anything yet, Asuka?" Misato asked.

"No, not a thing. I can barely see anything to start with, even with enhanced scanners on," Asuka replied.

"Right. Well, the MAGI say that you are right on course so you should see the angel soon," Misato said.

"Okay, I'll keep my eyes open," Asuka said.

After about another five minutes, they made contact with the angel. After Asuka had captured it, Shinji then went to work with his power. The angel then escaped like planned and Asuka attacked it with her prog knife as planned.

However, the angel did not die as planned.

"Asuka! Watch out!" Misato cried.

_How is this happening? _Shinji thought in horror. _I want the angel to die but it's just not. I thought God gave me all his powers! What's going on?!_

"Asuka's lost her prog knife!" Ritsuko cried.

"Shinji! Throw Asuka your prog knife!" Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" Shinji responded.

"Hurry up with that prog knife Shinji!" Asuka yelled.

"It's on its way!" Shinji said.

However, Shinji could not keep the doubting thoughts out of his head. _Maybe I've lost the ability to use God's powers. But why now? Why in the middle of an angel attack? I know it works against angels because it worked against the last one. But why aren't my powers working now? God, tell me! Tell me why! _Shinji cried in his head. _I need to know why. I want to help Asuka, I really do but I can't! I am as helpless as the last time I went through this ordeal!_

"The angel, it's dead," Misato said.

"But Asuka's coolant," Ritsuko said. "All her coolant lines have been cut."

"Pull in Unit 02 as quickly as you can," Misato ordered.

"Yes Captain!" Maya replied.

"Captain Katsuragi! All of Unit 02's lines have snapped! It's descending into the lava!" Shigeru cried.

"Dear God no," Misato said in horror.

Then, the NERV personnel watched as Unit 01 grabbed a length of the coolant lines before launching itself into the lava. "No! What the hell is Shinji doing?!" Misato cried.

"He's trying to save Asuka!" Maya exclaimed.

"He could die, Goddamnit!" Misato yelled.

"Unit 01 has stopped Unit 02's descent into the lava and is pulling it out," Makoto reported.

"Shinji…he did it?" Misato asked.

"Yes Captain, he did," Makoto replied with a sigh of relief. "Thank God for that."

* * *

After Unit 01 was removed from the lava, Shinji was sat in his entry plug, wondering what had gone wrong. What had prevented his powers from working? As he thought, he prayed that he could speak to God to find out the answers. He prayed that he could ask God all the questions he needed to. And just like that, time paused and Shinji found himself snapping to another location instantly. 

He was high up in the clouds, standing on a cloud in fact. There was a man sitting in front of him behind a desk covered with paperwork, a laptop and various phones. He was writing on some paper, looking to be very busy. Shinji was surprised by the man's appearance. "Are you…Robert De Niro?" Shinji inquired.

The man looked up and took his reading glasses off before looking Shinji in the eye. "Hey kid, Robert De Niro's got nothin' on me," the man responded.

"Okay…so who are you then?" Shinji asked next.

"I am the Archangel Michael," the man replied. "So i.e. I am God's secretary."

"God has a secretary?" Shinji asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes kid, God has a secretary. You won't believe the bureaucracy involved in sending souls to heaven or hell, I tell ya that!" Michael said. "Anyway, what is your business here? I know you're not dead so really you should have nothin' to do with me."

"Um, I wanted to speak to God," Shinji said.

"God's not in right now. Can't you read?" Michael asked, pointing towards another cloud. It was labelled 'God's Office' and below it, there was a sign saying, 'Out on Holiday'.

"I know he's on holiday but he told me if I wanted to reach him I should pray," Shinji pointed out.

"He tells everyone that! You want me to think you're special or somethin'?" Michael asked in an annoyed tone.

"Well, I'm standing in for God at the moment and…"

"Whoa, hold on, hold on! You just say you're standing in for God?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?! I would have hooked you up with the boss straight away if you had said that, kid!"

"Oh, okay. Sorry."

"No need to apologise. I'll just get the big guy up on the phone."

Shinji waited as the Archangel Michael conversed briefly over the phone before hanging up. "Yeah, sure, God will see ya," Michael said with a smile.

"Just one thing before I go," Shinji said.

"Okay. What is it?" Michael asked.

"Why is it that you look like Robert De Niro?" Shinji inquired.

Michael chuckled and said, "I get asked this quite a lot you know. Well, to make cut a long story short, God created Robert De Niro in my image."

"I see that God likes doing that, huh?" Shinji said.

"You better believe it! See the Archangel Gabriel? He looks just like Christopher Walken. And the Archangel Raphael? He looks just like Al Pacino," Michael pointed out, still chuckling.

"Any reason why?" Shinji asked in confusion.

"Absolutely none, kid. Anyway, go on. You wouldn't want to keep God waiting, would ya?"

Shinji then found himself on the balcony of a hotel. It overlooked a beach and out far in the horizon, the sun was setting with the sky a dazzling mix of red, orange, violet and dark blue. The view was breathtaking and Shinji wondered where on Earth he was to provide him with such an incredible spectacle. He never usually took note of the beauty of nature but this scene was far too marvellous to be ignored.

"Nice, isn't it?" God asked, joining Shinji on the balcony.

"It's wonderful," Shinji replied. "I've never seen a sunset like it."

"Maybe you should pay more attention to the world around you. Then you would see more things like this," God suggested.

"Probably. Before I was too wrapped up by my own problems to take note," Shinji said with a sigh. "Can I ask where we are?"

"We're on Hawaii. The big island," God replied. "It's the first stop on my vacation."

"It's a good start," Shinji noted.

"Sure is," God agreed. "Anyway, you wanted to see me about something?"

"Yeah, I did," Shinji said. "Today, I was involved in an angel battle. Well, not me really, it was Asuka. You would know all about it I take it?"

"Yup, every little detail," God replied.

"So you would have known that when I tried to use my powers to make the battle easier for Asuka, nothing happened and I still had to plunge my Eva into the lava to save her life," Shinji said.

"You're beginning to see some of the interesting aspects of my job, Shinji," God explained. "Sometimes, even as God, there are certain events that I can't stop or change under any circumstances. Today was an example of that, Shinji. These things occur when fate or destiny has something profound set in stone that must happen."

"So fate decided that the angel had to nearly kill Asuka?" Shinji asked, his voice slightly bitter.

"Not quite. You were predestined to save her life," God pointed out. "And save her life you did."

"I hadn't looked at it that way," Shinji said. "So you're saying that even if you had wanted to change it, you couldn't have?"

"That's right. You saving Asuka's life was meant to happen no matter what. Like I said, these are little things that make my job interesting. Most people believe that mankind is set out like a chessboard in front of me. Not true. There are other forces at work as well," God explained. "When I made humankind imperfect, I threw these things in as well, just to spice up the mix a bit. That is just part of the beauty of mankind."

Shinji stood there and pondered God's words for a moment. It made enough sense but Shinji didn't quite understand something. "Why was I destined to save Asuka's life today?" Shinji asked.

"That was up to fate," God replied. "That's like asking the meaning of life."

"The meaning of life? I thought you would know, of all people. I mean, you are God," Shinji said.

"Do you really think I would know the meaning of life? I don't! I left that for mankind to discover," God chuckled.

"You really are different from the God I imagined and the God that Christians say you are," Shinji said.

"Everybody has there own image of me. The image of God is subjective. You just happen to know what I'm really like," God said with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess. The last thing I expected was for you to look like Morgan Freeman," Shinji added.

"Expect the unexpected," God laughed. "Anyway, go on Shinji. I'm sure you have a lot to do."

"Okay, will do. Thanks a lot God."

"No problem at all, Shinji. No problem at all."

Shinji found himself no longer in Hawaii and no longer in his Eva. He out of his plug suit and was walking alongside Asuka. They were heading up to the hot springs that were located near the volcano. It was apparent that nothing had been said between himself and Asuka. However, that silence was quickly broken. "Shinji, when you jumped in after me…were you just following orders?" Asuka asked.

"No," Shinji replied. "I jumped in after before anyone could even think about ordering me to do anything."

Without warning, Asuka placed her hand on Shinji's cheek and gave his a kiss on the other cheek. "Thanks…Shinji," she said. "That was really brave of you…I guess I really owe you one."

Shinji's mind was running at maximum power. _She just kissed me on the cheek for the second time??!! What the hell is going on??!! _Shinji screamed inside his head. It all seemed so surreal now and Shinji had to pinch himself, this time on his hip, to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He wasn't.

They reached the hot springs and there was an inn that preceded the hot springs. Asuka headed off to the woman's side after smiling at Shinji and giving him a wave. Shinji waved back, not quite understanding how he was getting along so well with Asuka without the use of his Godly powers.

Shinji slipped off his clothes and entered the hot spring and he was soon joined by Pen-Pen who had hitchhiked all the way there. _Asuka beat me senseless, same day kisses me on the cheek. Then at the pool she gave me a proper uppercut, knocking me senseless, and then kissed me on the cheek today. I don't quite understand, _Shinji thought. _That's one thing God powers can't do…they can't help you to understand something as complex as a girl._


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

"Ikari," called the booming voice behind the black monolith labelled 'SEELE 1'. Thirteen such monoliths were laid out in a semicircle in front of both Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki. Gendo was sat with his hands clasped in front of his mouth while Fuyutsuki stood up beside the commander. "It had come to the attention of this council that you attempted to capture a live angel," SEELE 1 continued. 

"The angel was in an embryonic state and was ripe for the taking. It would have allowed us to get a better understanding of the angels and to make our future battles much easier. This, as you know, would help accelerate us towards our goal, the Human Instrumentality Project," Gendo explained.

"What you fail to acknowledge, Ikari," SEELE 1 snapped, "is that your actions could have let to the Third Impact. Do you not remember how Second Impact occurred? Such arrogance is not needed at a time like this. Do not deviate from the scenario."

"There was no such deviation. I saw an opportunity and I attempted to take it. The angel awakened from its embryonic state and we neutralised it. That is all there is on the matter," Gendo said.

"Do you take us for idiots, Ikari? It seems plainly obvious you were trying to go against the scenario. Tell us know Ikari, were you?" SEELE 2 inquired.

Gendo was about to reply but felt some extraneous force taking a hold of his body. "Well Ikari? Did you try to go against the scenario?" SEELE 1 asked, emphasizing SEELE 2's question.

"Fools," Gendo replied, "your Jedi mind tricks have no effect on me."

Giant sweat drops appeared over all of the monoliths. An awkward silence then immediately overtook the room. Even Fuyutsuki was shocked, as he had absolutely no idea why Gendo had just said that. Several moments passed, all without any noise whatsoever before SEELE 1 said, "O…kay."

The commander of NERV did not flinch, move, wince, cringe or noticeably breathe. He remained in his badass pose as all the SEELE members struggled to find things to say to Gendo. "Okay Ikari…just follow the goddamn scenario, 'kay?" SEELE 1 said in a fed-up tone.

"What scenario?" inquired SEELE 12 under the influence of outside forces, unknowingly to himself and everyone else in the meeting room.

Silence ensued once more and this time, sweat drops appeared over Gendo's and Fuyutsuki's faces. Usually, the meetings with SEELE were filled with an air of uncomfortable animosity but now it was just plain silly. "Ikari, we shall continue this some other time, I think," SEELE 1. All the monoliths disappeared except SEELE 1, which remained for some obscure reason. Gendo was perplexed to why this was. "Jesus! That was the strangest motherfuc…" SEELE 1 began before stopping himself. "Damn it, my monolith's still on! Oh shi-"

SEELE 1's monolith abruptly disappeared and it was the NERV commander's turns to think that something incredibly strange just occurred. "Fuyutsuki," Gendo said.

"Yes Ikari?" the deputy commander responded.

"Did we just go through what I thought we just did?" Gendo inquired.

"Yes Ikari," Fuyutsuki replied.

"Then, I propose we get wasted on the finest wines available to humanity when we get back to NERV," Gendo said, who was in a state of chaotic confusion after that nonsensical meeting.

"Yes Ikari," Fuyutsuki agreed.

* * *

In a location far from where the SEELE meeting had taken place, namely Shinji's bedroom, the teenage God was rolling on the floor with laughter. He sat up and said, "I love it when a plan comes together."

* * *

Misato was in an elevator, awaiting the closing of the doors to take her down deeper into NERV headquarters. She was in no hurry and waited patiently for the doors to shut of their own accord. "Hey! Misato! Hold the door!" cried Kaji, who was running towards the elevator. 

"Oh crud," Misato muttered as she pressed the button to shut the doors repeatedly. However, Kaji slipped in just as the doors were shutting.

Misato cringed as Kaji had successfully made it in. "Woo, haven't done running like that in a while!" Kaji said in between pants.

"Great to know," Misato muttered.

"So, eh, you come here often?" Kaji inquired whilst leaning against the side of the elevator.

"Don't even try it," Misato said in an annoyed tone.

Kaji was about to say something else but suddenly, everything went dark. The elevator stopped running and all the lights were off. "Huh? The power has gone," Kaji noted.

"Well noticed," Misato said sarcastically. "The emergency generator should get going soon anyway."

* * *

Meanwhile, in Central Dogma, Ritsuko said, "The emergency generator's not going!" 

"We only have the failsafe backup located within Central Dogma for the MAGI and the life support systems," Maya Ibuki added.

"Transfer all backup power to the MAGI," Fuyutsuki ordered.

"But sir…" Maya said before Fuyutsuki interjected.

"Do it. We need the MAGI running."

Maya reluctantly began work on that process which had to be done manually while Shigeru Aoba began work on setting out and lighting candles for a little bit of light. Makoto Hyuga was not at work just yet. "Dr Akagi," Gendo beckoned from up on his perch. Ritsuko went up to the level of the NERV bosses to speak to the commanders face to face.

"Yes sir?" she asked as soon as she arrived.

"The power cut. Explain it," Gendo ordered.

"It appears to be an act of sabotage. All our reserve emergency generators went off at the same time which leads me to this conclusion," the blonde doctor answered.

"Possible motives?" Fuyutsuki inquired.

"Other than just to sabotage us? Maybe they wanted to see how our systems worked, seeing how all of the generators turned back on and thus obtaining a detailed blueprint of how NERV runs," Ritsuko replied.

"Only someone on the inside could have employed such tactics and gained access to our generators," Gendo said. "Can you prevent our enemy from gaining what they want?"

"I can run some dummy programs to get the emergency generators starting up in a randomly generated order. However, it's going to take a while with the MAGI on backup power," Ritsuko said.

"Make it so," Gendo ordered.

* * *

Up above, three fairly normal junior high school students were on their way to a far from normal job. They were happy in the sunlight of the day and talked about important and pressing issues. "Nice weather, huh?" Shinji said. 

"Shut up," Asuka snapped.

"Okay," Shinji said.

They walked along and Shinji noticed something odd about the city. It seemed that nothing was moving. A train sat on its tracks, still yet full of people. It seemed that no traffic lights were on. Shinji decided to point out his concern. "How come none of the traffic lights are on?" he inquired.

"Huh? What traffic lights?" Asuka asked back.

"You know, those red, yellow and green things at junctions to stop all hell breaking loose," Shinji said.

"I know what traffic lights are, idiot! Where are they?" Asuka said.

"Over there," Shinji replied.

"Maybe just those ones are off," Asuka suggested.

"They're not the only ones. Look over there, and there," Shinji pointed out.

And sure enough, all those traffic lights were off. Asuka also noted that trains had stopped as well and no shops had their lights on or TVs running in the windows. There was liteally nothing going on. It was all every odd. Soon, something else was also apparently absent. "Hey? Where's Rei?" Shinji asked.

"Rei? I thought she was with you," Asuka replied.

"The three of us were walking together!" Shinji cried in exasperation. "But seriously, where is she?"

They looked around and saw here about half a mile up the road, still walking toward NERV headquarters, ignoring everything Shinji and Asuka had noted. "For Christ's sake! Is she on a mission or something?" Asuka said.

"Do you want to catch up to her?" Shinji asked.

"Do I hell! She has nothing to say when you're with her, so when she's away it'll make no difference," Asuka said. Shinji frowned but saw the logic in not running after Rei as running half a mile didn't sound too appealing.

They arrived at the gate and Rei was there, trying to swipe her card through to no avail. "It is not working," Rei said.

"It might be your card. Let me try!" Asuka said. She did and her card came out the other side, again to no avail. Asuka then proceeded to become annoyed and repeatedly shove her card through, nearly ripping the insides of the machine out.

Suddenly, a bright spark struck Shinji. _Why don't I just turn the power back on? _Shinji thought. He then worked his powers and suddenly as Asuka brought her card through the reader, the door opened and NERV headquarters awaited their entry. "Huh? It's suddenly working," Asuka said.

"It must have been a temporary power cut," Rei noted.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Let's go!" Asuka said.

* * *

Within Central Dogma, whilst Ritsuko was hard at worked setting up dummy programs, the lights turned on and the MAGI was now running at full power. "What the hell?" the doctor asked to no one in particular. Gendo and Fuyutsuki were also considerably puzzled at the randomness of the power returning. "That's odd," Ritsuko also noted. "All the generators came on all at once. That's definitely not supposed to happen." 

"Sir!" Shigeru Aoba cried. "Angel detected! It's already in the city and it's heading directly above Geofront!"

"Damn it!" Fuyutsuki cried. "We missed its approach during the power cut! Where are the pilots?!"

"Their ID cards have been detected to have been used at the main gates just as the power came back on," Maya reported.

"Sound the alarm! Get them into their Evas, pronto!" Fuyutsuki ordered. "Where is Captain Katsuragi?"

"Present!" said the purple haired woman as she ran onto the scene. Behind her was Kaji who had lipstick stains all over his lips, cheeks and neck. Ritsuko noticed and scowled. "Busy, Captain?" she asked indignantly.

"I was stuck in an elevator when the power cut out!" Misato replied.

"No, I meant Kaji," Ritsuko said.

"Huh?"

Misato turned around and sweat dropped when she saw him. Then, she got real mad. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME??!!" Misato roared.

"Was I not supposed to? Sorry babe," Kaji said with a sheepish smile.

"Ahem," Fuyutsuki coughed in a very annoyed voice. "We have slightly bigger worries. For example, the angel."

"Oh yeah," Misato said. "Where are the pilots?"

"They've just reported to the cages!" Shigeru responded.

"Get them ready for launch! We don't have any time!" Misato ordered.

"The angel has begun to pour a corrosive acid into the ground! It's trying to melt the ground all the way into the Geofront!" Ritsuko cried. At this precise moment, Shinji began to work his magic.

"I don't believe it!" Maya exclaimed.

"What is it?" Ritsuko asked.

"The angel's acid. At this rate, the MAGI calculates that the angel would have melted into the Geofront by Christmas Day next year, Boxing Day at the latest," Maya reported.

Sweat drops appeared all over Central Dogma. Misato's jaw was hanging open. "Are the pilots in their Evas?" Gendo inquired.

"Yes sir," Maya replied.

"Get me the pilot of Unit 01," Gendo said.

"Yes sir," Maya said. "He's on the main comm. link."

"Shinji?" Gendo asked.

"Yes?" Shinji replied in a hunky dory voice.

"Kill that goddamn angel," Gendo ordered in a voice that implied this angel deserved neither his time nor his energy.

"With pleasure, sir," Shinji responded.

* * *

Another angel had fallen and for the first time, it was killed by physical contact from an Eva. The contact had been Unit 01 falling on top of the angel because Asuka thought it would be funny to stick her foot out and trip Unit 01 over. It had inadvertently killed the angel and Shinji claimed that kill. "How could you say that was your kill?" Asuka cried. 

"Well, I killed it, didn't I?" Shinji said.

"You fell on top of it!" Asuka pointed out. "Listen, it's my kill more than yours because I made you fall on top of it."

"You didn't intend to kill it," Shinji said.

"Neither did you! What are you, an idiot?!" Asuka cried.

Shinji wondered how he always ended up in pointless arguments with Asuka. It would have been normal if he argued with her every know and again but it seemed every conversation he had with the girl either began with a pointless argument or ended with a pointless argument. However, there were also times where Shinji and Asuka ended up in highly suggestive positions that often led to embarrassment because of the entrance of another person.

An example would be during Misato's promotion party for her promotion from Captain to Major. Both Shinji and Asuka were out on the balcony for some fresh air. Asuka and Shinji both ended having their faces in close proximity due to unforeseen circumstances. As soon as that had happened, Toji and Kensuke appear on the scene. There would only be one outcome.

"AAAGH! SHINJI AND THE DEVIL ARE MAKING OUT!" Toji and Kensuke screamed in unison. They continued to scream and shout before Asuka beat the living crap out of the both of them. "So what do you say if you say something that isn't true about someone?" Asuka asked in a very patronising tone.

"Sorry," said a battered Kensuke and Toji.

After the party was over, Misato was conked out on the sofa, Pen-Pen was conked out on the coffee table and Asuka was in her room. Shinji was alone, left to clear up the mess left by the celebratory event. He made sure every one was absolutely asleep before using his powers to make cleaning up a hundred times easier. However, just as he was about to begin, he heard Asuka's door open.

Shinji was forced to stop straight away to not arouse any suspicion. Performing one of his acts of God in front of Asuka's eyes would have definitely aroused suspicion. "Hey," Asuka said. "Still up?"

"Yeah, I'm just cleaning up," Shinji replied.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about cleaning up," Asuka said. "I'll give you a hand."

"Thanks Asuka."

Shinji found it much more rewarding to tidy up with Asuka than to just make everything instantly go back were it came from. He found simple joy in chatting to her about nothing that important and making small talk. He could tell Asuka was happy as well because, well, he could hear her thoughts if he wanted to. He tried not to use his powers to hear people's thoughts but sometimes he couldn't help himself or did it by accident.

"We're done," Asuka declared, looking over the now spotless living room. Well, spotless apart from Misato and Pen-Pen sleeping and making a mess of the place.

"Yeah," Shinji said. "Thanks a lot for the help."

"No problem," Asuka replied with a smile. "You see, I can be nice sometimes."

Shinji was caught off guard by that one. "Huh? Where's this coming from?" Shinji inquired.

"I dunno. I just guessed that I haven't really been that nice to you and I needed to prove that I could be nice at least once in a while," Asuka said.

"It's okay. I'm used to being called an idiot every day," Shinji said with a chuckle.

"Well, sometimes you do deserve it," Asuka added.

"I guess," Shinji said.

The two glanced over at the clock and the time just struck half past twelve, meaning that they had been cleaning for the past half an hour. "We really should get some sleep," Asuka said.

"I don't really feel like sleeping," Shinji noted.

"Me neither, but we still need the sleep," Asuka said.

"Do you mind if we just stay up and talk for a bit before heading off to sleep?" Shinji asked.

"Well…I guess not," Asuka answered. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, really," Shinji said. "Well, why don't we try to learn more about each other?"

"That would be an idea," Asuka agreed.

"Well, let's do it this way. I ask a question then you ask a question? Sound fair?" Shinji suggested.

"Sounds good to me. You ask first."

Shinji ran through different questions in his mind and considered his options. He then finally settled on his choice and asked, "What's your favourite colour?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Asuka laughed. "Red, of course. What's yours?"

"I don't really have a favourite colour," Shinji replied.

"Purple and green?"

"Hell no!"

The two chuckled before Asuka said, "Well, it's your question again."

"Okay," Shinji said, considering what to ask. "How long have you been piloting Eva?"

"Well, I was selected a long time ago and I've been in training for nearly ten years now, I think," Asuka replied. "My question. What was it like piloting Eva without any training or experience?"

"Shit scary," Shinji replied blankly.

Asuka blinked in surprise, "That's it? Your answer?"

"Well, it's a long story cut short," Shinji pointed out.

"Give me the long story then," Asuka requested.

"Well, first off, I got a letter from my father telling me to go to Tokyo-3. I don't know what drove me to do it, but I did what he asked and went to the city. When I arrived, Tokyo-3 was under attack by an angel and I nearly got killed out on the streets had it not been for Misato and her timely appearance. That was when we first met, by the way," Shinji explained.

"Really? Some place to meet her. Anyway, carry on," said Asuka.

"Next, I was taken to NERV where they showed me Evangelion for the first time ever. My father told me to pilot it where I promptly refused. I kind of refused by screaming like a little girl though," Shinji said.

Asuka giggled a bit before Shinji continued. "So there I was, refusing to pilot when my father tries to get Rei to pilot it. She was badly wounded at the time and there was no way that she could stand on her own, never mind pilot the Eva. When she was wheeled through on her hospital bed, there was an explosion up above and a massive steel girder comes collapsing from the roof. It would have killed me had Unit 01's hand not stopped it," Shinji explained.

"Wait," Asuka said. "Unit 01 was unmanned at this point, right?"

"Yeah," Shinji answered.

"So how could its arm have moved?"

"I'm not sure. One thing I'm sure of is Eva is more than just a robot. It's alive in a way," Shinji said.

It was then Shinji saw an opportunity. Before God had intervened, Shinji had seen Asuka go through absolute mental torment before finally becoming comatose. Back here again after God had given Shinji a second chance, Shinji saw an opportunity to actually make a difference to someone else's life.

"Eva? Alive? No way. It's just a weapon," Asuka said.

"Well, that doesn't explained how my Eva went dead during my first battle and then suddenly comes back online, completely out of my control ," Shinji pointed out.

"Your Eva went out of control?" Asuka inquired. Suddenly, she didn't look so sure of herself. The concept of an Eva acting of its own accord was totally alien to the German redhead. "Dr Akagi describes it as going berserk," Shinji explained. "There's something more to Eva than what we understand."

Asuka frowned because she had never thought of Evangelion of more than a tool, a weapon. However, if what Shinji was saying was true, then there truly was more to Evangelion than Asuka first perceived. "So what happened during the battle then?" Asuka asked.

"Well, I got my ass kicked pretty much before my Eva goes berserk and kills the angel, to put it in a nutshell," Shinji replied.

"Do you have any idea why it went berserk?" Asuka asked.

"Not really," Shinji lied. He did know, because it was the soul of his mother dormant within the Eva that made it go berserk. However, he couldn't let on that he knew just yet. "Anyway, you've asked me like ten questions instead of one!" Shinji said.

"I did? Sorry, I got carried away," Asuka said sheepishly.

"It's okay, I'll count them all as one question," Shinji said with a smile and a thumbs up. "How did you get into to piloting Eva?"

"Well, I was very young when I got selected by GEHIRN, what NERV was called at the time and then…and then…" Asuka said before stopping. Shinji was sure that she about to let a tear go but Asuka stopped herself. "I'd…I'd rather not talk about it," Asuka said before getting up and walking out onto the balcony.

Shinji watched her walk and she did so slowly without all the swagger that she usually possessed whilst she walked. She opened the glass sliding door slowly and left it open before moving up to the railing at the edge of the balcony. She felt the cool air enter the flat and it was relaxing and calming. He noted Misato stirring at the entrance of the cool air and that she smiled slightly when it brushed over her face. Shinji grinned to himself, before making his way out onto the balcony.

When Shinji stepped outside, the wind blew past his body softly, like a gentle touch. It was inviting and pleasant. The air outside was relatively still and there wasn't a cloud in the blue-black sky. The moon was hall full and there were many stars in full view. The seemed to have a certain sparkle tonight and Shinji found himself lulled by the night sky. Asuka was leaning on the railing, her red hair blowing back with the gentle breeze.

"You okay?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah," Asuka replied. "I just…well, kind of remembered something I preferred I hadn't."

"Sorry for asking that before," Shinji apologised.

"It's okay, it isn't your fault," Asuka said with a weak smile. "You know, when you usually say sorry, it never really is your fault. You just say sorry anyway."

"It's a habit of mine, I guess," Shinji said.

"You shouldn't do that," Asuka said. "If you say sorry all the time, it takes all the meaning out of the times that you really mean it."

"I know," Shinji agreed. "But I am truly sorry for asking you that before."

"Like I said, it's okay. It was just something I didn't really want to remember," Asuka pointed out.

"I've got a few of those," Shinji said. "Sucks, huh?"

"You can say that again," Asuka said whilst dropping her head down and sighing rather sadly.

Shinji noticed the sadness in her voice. This was a side he had either never ever seen before, or a side that Asuka had never been willing to anybody before now. Either way, Shinji still found her as attractive as ever and he found himself experiencing true emotions for Asuka. Before God had stepped in, his mind and judgement had been so clouded by everything that he simply held basic desire for Asuka. Now Shinji was sure that was different. Now he was sure that he was feeling something true and sincere.

"You know, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let you know," Asuka said, catching Shinji off guard and snapping him out of his little daze.

"About what?" Shinji asked.

"About when I was selected to be a pilot. I was really excited at the time. It was kind of a dream come true for a kid to pilot a giant robot. However, shortly after that, my mother died. It was…too hard to think about," Asuka said, her voice cracking up noticeably.

"I'm…well…sorry to hear that," Shinji said. "If it's any consolation, I know how you feel about your mother."

"You do?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah," Shinji said slowly.

The two stood there in silence for a moment with Tokyo-3 in front of them and the night sky above them. Shinji felt happy to just be there with her. It was strange before the time God intervened because he had struggled so hard just to experience happiness of any kind. Now Shinji realised that he had been missing out on the simple pleasures of life and he made sure to make the most of all of them. As well as that, he had Godly powers which were always a bonus.

Shinji then summoned all his strength to take Asuka's hand to tell her how he really felt about her. However, for some odd reason, he didn't fell Asuka's hand in his. Asuka felt Shinji's hand gripping her ass. "Shinji?" Asuka asked in a very ticked off tone.

"Y-y-y-yes?" Shinji stammered.

"YOU'RE A MORON!!!" Asuka cried before smacking the boy right in the middle of the face. Shinji flew through the air and smashed into the kitchen wall. Asuka stormed off to her room and slammed the door shut. Misato stirred lightly at the noises around her but continued to sleep regardless. Shinji made his pain go away using his powers as his body peeled off the wall and tried to figure out how it all went so badly wrong.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Honolulu airport, God was preparing to fly to Australia when he saw Shinji's failed attempt and gaining Asuka's love and respect. "Shinji you fool," God muttered. "You have my powers, yet you still managed grab her ass instead of her hand." God cringed before handing his ticket over to a curious airport worker who wondered why Morgan Freeman was going to Australia.

* * *

"You know," Misato said in an annoyed tone, "why do angels like to attack when the commander isn't here?" 

"Who knows?" Ritsuko said.

"Where are they anyway?" Misato inquired.

"Antarctica," Ritsuko replied. "However, I've heard that they've come across an unexpected problem."

* * *

Gendo and Fuyutsuki watched in amazement as the Antarctica they arrived at was nothing like the Antarctica they had expected. Instead of a hell hole with barely any ice and discoloured oceans, they saw an Antarctica booming with massive icebergs and glaciers and ice everywhere basically. The oceans were a placid icy blue and everything here seemed like the pre-Second Impact Antarctica. 

A sweat drop appeared over Gendo's face. "Where is that icebreaker ship I ordered in?" Gendo asked tersely.

"It's, uh, being held up," Fuyutsuki replied.

"By what?" Gendo inquired, his patience being greatly tested.

"By, uh, Emperor Penguins," Fuyutsuki answered.

"What?!" Gendo cried.

"The penguins are crossing a large pack of ice in front of the icebreaker. Because of UN animal rights laws, they have to wait until the penguins are finished crossing," Fuyutsuki explained.

"And how long might that take?" Gendo asked in sheer annoyance.

"Well, there are about a hundred thousand penguins left so make that a few hours," Fuyutsuki answered. Gendo cringed and wondered how anything like this could have happened.

* * *

Far away, both Shinji and Pen-Pen cheered.

* * *

"So far, the angel has been dropping pieces of itself as bombs. Its first drop fell several hundred kilometres off target," Ritsuko said. "However, as time passed, the angel has begun correcting its drops and the explosions are gradually getting closer to mainland Japan. The MAGI calculates that its final target, using the positioning and correction of the previous drops, is Tokyo-3." 

"That's just dandy, isn't it?" Misato said.

"The JSDF launched N2 bombs at it with little effect. Now, the angel has stop dropping its 'bombs' and is heading straight for Tokyo-3," Ritsuko explained.

"What are our chances of intercepting it before it hits the ground?" Misato asked.

"Less than 2 percent," Ritsuko replied.

"Okay. Let's do it then," Misato said.

"For Christ's sake," Ritsuko muttered under her breath.

* * *

"Okay, you three know the plan, yeah?" Misato asked. 

"Not really, no," Shinji, Asuka and Rei all replied.

"Okay, let's do it!" Misato cried.

"For crying out loud," Ritsuko cringed.

"Remember, there's a free steak dinner on the line here!" Misato added.

"Not to mention the fate of mankind," Ritsuko added wryly.

Evangelion Units 00, 01 and 02 set off to go angel hunting. Shinji had an unfair advantage because he knew where the angel was going to be before it even there. Shinji set his Eva off into a jaunty dash and prepared to kick some angel ass. Shinji also influenced Asuka's and Rei's senses of direction so that they would get to where the angel would be as well.

Shinji arrived on the hilltop where the angel would appear and waited as it descended down. As he waited, he considered his options for making this battle easier and decided on making the angel the size of his Eva's head. The angel soon appeared and Shinji caught the diminutive beast in his hands and it fitted snugly in the palms of Eva Unit 01's hands, confusing the hell out of everybody.

"What the…?! I was sure the angel was a lot bigger than that!" Ritsuko exclaimed.

"I guess not," Misato said.

"Anyway want to play ball?" Shinji asked.

"Just kill the goddamn angel," Asuka snapped.

"Uh, okay," Shinji complied.

* * *

Later that night, Shinji knew that Misato would have taken them to a cheap beef bowl joint so he made her take them to an expensive restaurant for a pleasant change using his powers. As well as that, Shinji made sure Misato had enough money to pay for the meal and the booze she would inevitably consume. 

"Strange…I was sure I didn't take this much money," Misato noted. Shinji cringed hard.

They arrived and ordered their meals. Much to Asuka's curiosity, Rei ordered a salad. "Not hungry?" she inquired.

"No, I am hungry," Rei replied. "The menu consists of meat dishes for the most part. That salad was the only one not containing meat."

"Vegetarian?" Asuka asked.

"I…I dislike eating meat," Rei explained.

"I dislike not having beer!" Misato cried. "Waiter! Where the hell is my beer?!"

"On the way, madam," the waiter replied.

While Shinji ate his meal, he noticed Asuka was doing her best not to speak to him. Shinji had tried to apologise for his ass touching but Asuka was having none of it so far. It was frustrating to Shinji. He knew that he could have just made Asuka forgive him using his powers but his morals weren't letting him. Shinji continued to eat, watching Misato make a fool of herself and Asuka ignore him and Rei ignore everything in general.

After the meal, Misato was struggling to open her purse to pay for the meal while Shinji and Rei waited for Asuka to appear from the toilet. However, he felt a hand grab his ears and pulled him outside. Once outside, he was tossed on the deck and looked up to see the figure of Asuka Langley Sohryu towering over him. She looked formidable, angry, pissed off and so goddamn sexy to Shinji. "Uh, hi," Shinji said meekly.

"You wanted to speak to me about something? Well, hurry up. Speak to me," Asuka said.

Shinji stood up before saying, "I just wanted to apologise for what I did on the balcony. I should have never have done that."

"Idiot," Asuka said with a smile. "You apologise for everything."

Asuka leaned forward and gave Shinji a hug and said, "You're forgiven."

"That's great," Shinji said before blowing a sigh a relief.

Asuka continued to hug him and Shinji wondered why she wasn't letting go. "Just a word of warning," she said. "Touch my boobs or my ass again like you've done before and I will kill you, okay?"

"Uh…okay," Shinji said with newfound terror.

"You're a nice guy, Shinji. Just watch where you put your hands before I cut them off."

"Yeah…sure," Shinji said with sweat drops appearing all over the back of his head.

Just to confuse the issue further, Asuka kissed Shinji on the cheek once again before saying, "Thanks Shinji."

"You're…uh…welcome," Shinji replied nervously. Asuka then sauntered off, leaving Shinji as a confused wreck.

Shinji sat himself down on the kerb and looked up into the sky. He was soon joined by Rei. "What is the problem?" Rei inquired.

"A certain girl," Shinji replied.

"If you are having girl problems," Rei began, "then I feel bad for you, Shinji."

"Let me guess, I've got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one?" Shinji said.

"I do not know what you are talking about," Rei said. She then got up and went back to help Misato count money whilst Shinji pondered everything in general. Then, he decided that in order to cheer himself up, he would play more pranks on Gendo.

* * *

The icebreaker ship had done its job and allowed the modified aircraft carrier carrying the NERV commanders into the icy continent. Soon, they had found what they were looking for. It was the Lance of Longinus and it protruded vertically from the ice. It was as long as the aircraft carrier itself and the red lance looked fairly impressive against the backdrop of the ice of Antarctica. It was there for the taking had it not been for a certain obstacle completely surrounding it. 

"Fuyutsuki, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Gendo inquired.

"Yes, Ikari. It seems that the Lance is positioned right in the middle of an Emperor Penguin nesting ground," Fuyutsuki noted.

The Lance of Longinus was surrounded by over a hundred thousand penguins. All of them were male and they were tasked with protecting the eggs that their mates had laid from the harsh and ferocious winter. They did so by huddling close to each other in a massive pack. It just so happened that the massive pack had encircled the Lance.

"Can't we just force our way in?" asked a ticked off Gendo.

"Rules are rules, I'm afraid Ikari, especially if the UN say so," Fuyutsuki replied.

"How long is their nesting period?" Gendo inquired next.

"As long as the winter. It's only about two months," Fuyutsuki answered.

Gendo turned away from Fuyutsuki and headed to the rear wall of the bridge. There, he promptly smacked his head against it.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Very ironically, it was Morgan Freeman himself who narrated 'March of The Penguins' which for those of you who don't know is a critically acclaimed documentary about Emperor Penguins and their life cycle. I hadn't realised it until I had finished writing this chapter so any connection between the two was accidental! 


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

Gendo found himself in front of SEELE once more. His visits to the old men had become annoyingly frequent and with all the weird occurrences that had been happening recently, all Gendo wished for was a break from it all, maybe even a holiday. The last meeting he had was incredibly odd and surreally strange. He hoped this meeting would be slightly more normal, even if normal involved a tense atmosphere with an aura of evil.

"Ikari," SEELE 1 said. "Is it true that an angel invaded NERV Headquarters itself?"

"No," Gendo replied. "There was no such occurrence. You can even check the MAGI's records."

This was most obviously a lie and all the members of SEELE, even SEELE number 12 who had forgotten what the scenario was knew it as well. It had happened during a test with the Eva Simulation Bodies in the Pribnow Box. The first thing expected of the pilots was simple enough.

"You want us to do the tests naked?!" Asuka cried.

"Yes. That way, we can analyse the natural synchronisation of your body, without assisted synch of the plug suit and the A10 nerve clips," Ritsuko explained.

"No, no, no! There is no way I am going in there naked, especially with all your cameras you have around!" Asuka insisted, rather loudly at that.

"We'll shut the cameras off," Ritsuko said, "in the interests of your privacy."

"I'm still not going to do it! No way, no way!" Asuka cried.

At the entrance to the Eva Simulation Bodies outside the Pribnow Box, the three pilots stood there naked with a divider between each of them for decency. "They made me do it," Asuka sighed.

Shinji had the ability to see right through the divider, being omnipotent and all powerful and all. He couldn't resist the urge just have to have quick peeks through the dividers at Asuka's naked form. It was hardly the most noble of uses of his powers but he was an adolescent teenage boy and that was justification enough. And besides, he only looked three or four times.

"Okay, step into the simulation bodies please. We'll get this test started," Ritsuko said. The pilots did and went about what would have been a routine test had it not been for a little mishap more commonly known as an angel.

"Rei's simulation body is moving!" Maya cried.

"Impossible!" Ritsuko said.

"Contamination in all the protein layers!" Shigeru exclaimed.

"Wavelength blue, angel confirmed!" Makoto yelled.

"Eject the pilots, NOW!" Ritsuko ordered.

The pilots were thusly ejected and now Ritsuko had a small problem on her hands. "Increased ozone in the Pribnow Box appears to be slowing the angel down," Maya reported. That only worked for so long.

"The ozone is making the angel expand throughout the Pribnow Box!" Makoto cried.

"Shut off the ozone injection!" Ritsuko snapped. "Take a step back, people. We need to see what we're working with."

"What's happening?!" Misato asked.

"We're working on that," Ritsuko replied.

Ritsuko had her team of technicians rounded up for an emergency meeting. "The angel has infected the protein walls and the simulation bodies themselves," Ritsuko said. "Initially, the injection of ozone into the Pribnow Box seemed to slow it down but it then seemed to absorb the ozone and expand even further. I want to see hard data and I want it five minutes ago," she said.

"Doctor! The angel appears to be biological," Shigeru reported.

"It consists of millions of microscopic organisms that form the collective angel," Makoto added.

"Finally, it appears that the angel is naturally adaptive. In other words, it's evolving," Maya finished.

"So, in summary, not good," Misato noted.

"No, not at all," Ritsuko said.

Then, more alarms began to blare throughout the base. "The angel is hacking into the MAGI!" Shigeru cried.

"What?!" Ritsuko exclaimed in absolute horror. "How is it doing that?!"

"We don't know!" Maya said. "It's evolving faster than anything we've ever encountered before!"

"It's invading Melchior!" Makoto yelled. "I…I can't stop it!"

"It's too fast! It's getting past all the barriers we're putting up!" Maya cried.

"Melchior has been completely taken over!" Shigeru reported. "It's moving onto Balthazar!"

"Let me onto your terminal!" Ritsuko said to Maya. The technician moved aside as Ritsuko began to work her magic. And just like that, the angel stopped.

"Has it been destroyed?" Misato asked.

"No," Ritsuko replied. "Far from it. I've only bought us some time."

"Doctor!" Makoto called. "You won't believe this."

"What is it?" Ritsuko asked.

"The angel's accessed one of our internet terminals and is downloading lots and I mean lots, of pornographic material using the MAGI," Makoto reported.

Ritsuko sweat dropped and asked, "You're kidding me, right?"

"I wish I was. This is so incredibly weird," Makoto said.

* * *

Shinji, alone and naked in his ejected entry plug, chuckled to himself. _I bet they never saw that one coming, _he thought with a coy grin.

* * *

"What the hell?!" Shigeru exclaimed.

"What is it?" Ritsuko inquired.

"The MAGI's virus scanner is doing an automated sweep," Shigeru answered.

"It's what? Does the MAGI even have a virus scanner?" Ritsuko asked in absolute bemusement.

"Apparently it does," Shigeru said. "And look, it's quarantined and deleted a virus."

"Angel-Ireul-Porn-Downloader," Ritsuko read off the screen. "Wait a second. Are you telling me that this angel smashed right through the MAGI's firewall and outdone some of NERV's best computer technicians, only to be beaten by a home computer virus scanner?!"

"Well, I have heard 'Norton Internet Security' is pretty good," Makoto pointed out.

"But how could it have stopped an angel? This is a being solely intent on destroying mankind," Ritsuko said.

"I know as much as you do," Misato said, just as perplexed as her blonde compatriot.

That had been that. Gendo had ordered that all the records of the incident be untraceably deleted from the MAGI's records to avoid SEELE having any evidence of the incident happening. The porn that the angel had downloaded was put onto several DVDs and was all now in Gendo's possession for reasons most obvious. SEELE could make claims of whatever they liked but unless they had any evidence of the occurrence, then they had no case against the commander of NERV.

"Don't think you can hide the truth from us, Ikari," SEELE 5 said.

"There is nothing to hide," Gendo said in his infamous badass pose.

"Watch yourself, Ikari. Your lies and deception will bring about your downfall," SEELE 8 warned.

"The betrayal of this council will not go unpunished," SEELE 3 added.

"I have neither lied to, deceived nor betrayed anybody," Gendo said. "Does the council still require my presence?"

SEELE 1 spoke up, "There has been an issue with the Lance of Longinus. You have still not recovered it from the Antarctic yet. The project is falling far behind schedule because you have not retrieved it yet, Ikari. Can you explain this failure?"

"Penguins," Gendo answered.

"Penguins? What on earth do you mean by that, Ikari?!" SEELE 1 asked in an enraged tone.

"Go to Antarctica and to where the Lance of Longinus is located. Then you'll see what I mean," Gendo said. "Now if you excuse me, gentlemen, I have business to attend to."

"Be warned Ikari. You are being closely watched," SEELE 1 said before disappearing.

"By business, do you mean watching those videos in that porn stash the angel downloaded?" Fuyutsuki inquired.

"Tell…nobody," Gendo ordered.

* * *

"I really don't like failed synch tests," Shinji moaned whilst sitting in the NERV hospital unit waiting room, sipping a cup of hot chocolate. He had just received a check-up from doctors and was given the green light to be immediately discharged. It hadn't been a fun experience ending up in the hospital though. Shinji had been placed in Unit 00 to see if it would accept him. Ideally, Shinji would have wanted Unit 00 not to start and allow him to leave the Eva without having to do anything. However, fate had it so that the Eva started up against Shinji's will before proceeding to go berserk. Shinji's entry plug was ejected, tossing him about the test area much like a rag doll.

"It's what you get for climbing into Wondergirl's Eva," Asuka pointed out.

"Well, it's not like I had a choice in the matter," Shinji pointed out.

"Whatever," Asuka said.

"Anyway, what are you doing here anyway? I thought you had better things to do than to speak to me," Shinji said.

"What? I, uh…I mean…I was just…making sure, you know, with you being such and idiot an all, that you didn't kill yourself! Right, that's it!" Asuka said.

"Right…" Shinji said with a cocked eyebrow.

Asuka had been worried about him and had waited for him outside while he was being checked. As well as this, her denial of this fact was a telltale sign that Asuka had truly been worried. Shinji smiled inwardly, knowing his Godly powers had nothing to do with it and that it was Asuka herself who was worried. It was a good feeling for the teenage God.

"Anyway, are you coming or what?" Asuka asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Let me just finish this hot chocolate," Shinji replied.

"Okay. And before we go, take a shower for God's sake, you stink of LCL," Asuka said.

"Yes ma'am," Shinji said, giving the girl a facetious US military salute.

Asuka giggled and said, "You're such an idiot."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," Shinji said.

"Yeah, me neither…" Asuka said before stopping herself. She looked over to Shinji and the boy smiled back. She smiled back but couldn't but feel something warm inside of her. She ignored it and hurried the boy along the corridor so that the two of them could head home. Asuka was beginning to enjoy Shinji's company, not that she'd admit it to anyone. However, she couldn't help but smile at him being an idiot.

* * *

Shinji had a bad feeling about today. Sure, he had more powers than he could use but still, it was a bad feeling nonetheless. He went about his day at school as per normal. In class, he would usually press the mute button to keep the teacher's lectures about Second Impact as they should be; silent. However, sometimes he would spice up the teacher's anecdotes for his amusement. Shinji had a bad feeling about today, so playing pranks would always give him something to laugh about. It was made all the more better by omnipotence.

"So, after Second Impact, I began smoking weed," the teacher began, sounding a lot like Mr Garrison out of South Park. "Now, I'm not saying it's a good thing. To the contrary, it's very much a bad thing and it's illegal. But still, when you go through something like Second Impact, you tend to be all tense, all stressed out and stuff. And yeah, you probably should be, considering Tokyo got nuked and half the world's population has just gone up in smoke. You also should probably make sure you survive. If there is ever a Third Impact, don't do what I did, which was smoke lots of weed. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing, but when everybody is running wild, telling me everything's going to die, the best thing for me to do was to sit there and puff on a massive reefer, getting stoned out of my mind. Now, that wasn't the best thing to do and everybody's telling me to help with reconstruction and that. I mean, yeah, cannabis is illegal so I was doing the wrong thing. But come on, after a joint that big, I was having big munchies! So when those other folks were away in their mindless philanthropy, I was chowing down big time. Don't get me wrong, it was totally selfish and wrong and I should have been helping all those people stricken with radiation poisoning. But oh, that weed was good shit, I'm telling you. If you ever get weed that good, which you shouldn't because it's illegal, then revel in its majesty. Cannabis should be legalised. But remember kids, it's wrong and illegal so don't do it."

Kensuke was sitting there with his mouth wide open. "Are you hearing what I'm hearing, Toji?" Kensuke inquired. However, Toji's reply was far from satisfactory. In fact, Toji's reply was the slow, regular breathing of a sleeping person. Kensuke sighed when he saw the Toji had been asleep through that incredibly out of character anecdote from the teacher. He decided to talk further across the classroom to Shinji.

"Psst! Hey, Shinji!" Kensuke called out.

"Yeah?" Shinji replied.

"Did you just hear what I heard coming out of that old geezer's mouth?" Kensuke asked.

Shinji smiled and said, "Yeah, totally freakish, isn't it?"

"I'll say," Kensuke agreed. "And guess what? Toji was asleep all the way through it!"

Shinji laughed and said, "His loss! That was golden!"

"Hey, you two!" said the class rep. "Stop talking across the class! The teacher's still speaking."

"Hikari, can you turn around and actually listen to what he's speaking about?" Shinji said.

She did, and this was what she heard. "…so if you need to make the perfect bottle bong, then I've got the solution for you, even though you should never ever do this! First off, you need good shit, right? Get some of that first from your dealer. But don't because it's illegal. Then…"

Hikari turned around and said, "Point taken."

"See?" Shinji said.

"You know, I sometimes wonder if this old fart knows if he's a teacher," Asuka commented wryly.

"Me too, with some of the things he goes on about," Kensuke agreed.

"It's almost the end of the day," Shinji noted.

"Thank God for that as well," Asuka said.

"…so in summary kids," the teacher said, "weed is a great drug, but don't ever do it because it's bad for you and can damage your brain, as well as being illegal." Immediately after the teacher finished, the bell rang and the children of Class-2A stood up and then bowed to the teacher, wondering why the hell he went on about cannabis for the last period of the day. "Class representative, make sure that the after school duties are carried out," the teacher said.

"Yes sir!" Hikari said. "Shinji, Rei, you two are to stay behind and clean up the classroom floor."

"Great," Shinji muttered under his breath. The reasoning to his mutterings was twofold. Firstly, he had to stay behind. Secondly, he couldn't use his powers to clean because Rei was there and he didn't want to arouse suspicion, even to a clone of both his mother.

Shinji wondered what the connection could be. If Rei was genetically combined to his mother and she was his age, then that would technically make her his sister. Shinji considered that possibility and it didn't sound too bad. Having Rei as a sister basically cleared any suspicions that Shinji was interested in Rei, even if the only two who minutely thought this were Toji and Kensuke. However, the fact of the matter was that Rei was not his sister at all. They may have shared genes from the same person but that didn't make Rei his sister. Or did it? Shinji wasn't so sure.

"Ikari, you have stopped cleaning," Rei said.

"Huh?" Shinji said, having been snapped out of a daze by Rei's words. "Sorry, I was daydreaming."

"You seem anxious, Ikari," Rei said.

"It's, well, today's a hard day for me," Shinji said. "It's the day my mother passed away."

"I am...sorry for you," Rei said impassively.

"It's okay. I'm visiting her grave for the first time in a long time today. That means I have to face my father which should be interesting," Shinji said, knowing he had many divine pranks he could play on old man Gendo.

"I do not know what it is like…to lose a mother," Rei said. "Or to have a mother."

"Having a mother's great," Shinji said. "Losing one's a bit crap, to put it lightly."

"I see," Rei said. "Well, to be honest, I do not see. This is something I cannot quite comprehend."

Shinji had never heard Rei talk about anything like that before. Rei was truly trying to be empathetic in her attempt to understand Shinji's feelings. Usually, Rei was indifferent to everything so it was weird to hear her saying that she had tried to understand but couldn't. Well, at least she tried. Shinji could give her that.

Once Shinji and Rei were finished with the classroom, he said his goodbyes to Rei before heading out on the streets alone. He took out the headphones of his SDAT player and put them in his ears as he walked along the streets during Tokyo-3's rush hour. He selected some Bach, feeling the need for some classical music from the Baroque Era and continued on his way to the train station.

Shinji couldn't help but feel that the city had gotten less lively. More and more people were leaving because of the threat of angel attack and it showed in the relative calm of rush hour today. Shinji remembered how crazy rush hour used to be and comparing it to today, it seemed that the city of Tokyo-3 was slowly fading. The tall buildings didn't look so magnificent as before. He remembered how he used to be in awe whenever he saw the skyscrapers emerge from underground. Now, they seemed so vulnerable.

However, Shinji knew he had saved the city quite a bit of grief with his powers. All the angels bar the one in the volcano and past the 6th had all been pushovers thanks to his Godly prowess. It would have been too easy for Shinji to become overconfident but his lessons with the angel in the volcano had taught him otherwise. God also gave Shinji a warning about fate and not to mess with it. If you tried to mess with fate, then fate would mess with you and that was never a good thing.

Shinji boarded his train right on time and managed to get a seat despite the rush hour. Not many people it seemed wanted to go to the cemetary, it seemed. Understandable, since it was a place where the feeling of death was prevalent. It wasn't a good feeling and it wasn't a feeling anybody wanted to go through willingly either. Shinji's powers couldn't take away any of the associated uneasiness, as much as he wished they could.

Shinji got off the train just outside the city and walked on. Now, he heard some J-Pop songs in his ears as he continued along. Shinji didn't mind too much about the music he listened to, just as long as it helped to pass the time. The closer he got to the cemetery, the more it felt like he was in a whole new country altogether. The green grass under his feet slowly turned into a fine dust as he approached the gates of the cemetery.

It was as overwhelming as the last time he had come here. Black grave markers stretched as far as the eye could see in front of him. Such was the scale of death during and after Second Impact. It always brought Shinji into a brooding, sombre mood. He walked on, knowing exactly where to go to find what he was looking for.

As he approached his mother's grave, he heard and then saw the VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircraft approaching in the distance. He immediately knew that his father was inside and that he would have to deal with him face to face. Shinji had played many a prank on the commander of NERV ever since he had his powers but it seemed different now. It was on a more personal level.

The VTOL aircraft hovered above the ground before slowly touching down. The engines died down and the main door opened. And sure enough, it was none other than Gendo Ikari who emerged. He walked over slowly to the grave and Shinji watched his every step out of the corner of his eye. He wondered how this would all turn out.

Gendo handed over a bouquet of flowers in his hands over to Shinji who went forward and placed them in front of the black gravestone. He then took a step back in bowed his head in respect. The sky was a curious blend of orange and blue and the dusk implied the end of the day. The cemetery implied the end of life. The end. When would it come for Shinji? The end of his powers, Eva, himself? When would the end come?

"We come today," Gendo began, "to honour a loved one. A mother, wife and scientist alike. We come in humility and to bow our heads in respect for her. In death she is not forgotten."

"Yet I can't remember her face. You kept no photos of her," Shinji said.

"I have all I need, right here," Gendo said, placing his hand on his chest where his heart was. "That is all you need. Even this gravestone is simply a marker. It is up to you to remember."

"You didn't make it easy by throwing away all her pictures," Shinji pointed out.

"You need not have her pictures, Shinji," Gendo said. "Just remember her where it matters."

And when Gendo turned away and began to return towards his private aircraft, Shinji felt dissatisfied with the meeting he had with his father. His message seemed heartfelt enough, but he didn't actually explain to Shinji how he would remember somebody, never mind his own mother without an image of some kind so that the image could be stored in the brain as an image. Shinji was then ticked off by Gendo just being Gendo and had the man fall forward face forward as he walked. Sand blew up as Gendo fell perfectly flat onto the ground. It was the perfect face plant. Even the VTOL aircraft pilots had a chuckle at Gendo falling over. The NERV commander hastily got up, brushed himself off and tried to walk into the aircraft, trying to regain some dignity even though it all gone when one fell swoop.

Shinji turned in the opposite direction to Gendo and managed to walk away without falling unlike his father. Shinji did have an unfair advantage but he didn't really matter to him. As the NERV VTOL aircraft took off behind him, Shinji made his way back to the train station and decided that one he got back home, he would dig out his cello and give it a play.

* * *

Asuka had agreed to go on a blind date after school that day at the request of a classmate. The girl said she knew someone how would have loved to go on a date with Asuka. She thought it might have been worthwhile so she offered to do the favour for her classmate. Asuka still had a niggling reluctance to go however, and was uneasy the entire date. As well as that, the guy turned out to be a bumbling wreck when dealing with girls and this immediately bored Asuka. He couldn't seem to string a sentence together as they walked through the amusement park. When waiting in line for the rollercoaster, Asuka ditched him and headed for the train station.

She sighed once she had boarded her train and wondered why she still had that niggling feeling that had plagued her the entirety of her so-called date. It was difficult to understand and Asuka wondered why it was so tough being a teenage girl. Her mind would tell her one thing and her body would tell her another. And with her background, Asuka knew that she was easily prone to becoming emotionally unstable. She had to stay strong and keep a grip on herself.

She hopped off the train and walked along the well lit streets that led up to Misato's flat. It was a fairly cloudy night and without the street lights, Asuka was sure that she wouldn't have been able to see anything. She never liked walking out on her own at night. The blackness of the night sky always seemed to make her think that there was nobody out there for her. She knew that she was a raging hypocrite because she made of big point of being self-sufficient and independent whenever she was around others but when she was on her own, she wanted to be around other people, just so that she wouldn't feel alone.

Asuka got in the elevator and went up to the floor on which Misato's flat was situated and couldn't help but hum the elevator muzak. It was always deceptively catchy, much to the annoyance of elevator users worldwide. Asuka was almost disappointed when she had to stop humming the muzak when the elevator stopped on her floor. She exited as not to become intoxicated by the sheer catchiness of the muzak and headed off to Misato's flat.

She opened the door and her ears were immediately treated to the soothing basso tone of a cello. Asuka knew there was no way in hell that it was Misato playing it so it had to be Shinji. And sure enough, it was Shinji who looked totally absorbed in his playing. She listened throught the entirity of his piece and once he had played the final few notes, Asuka applauded.

"Huh? Oh, hey Asuka," Shinji greeted.

"Hello Shinji. I must say, that was quite impressive," Asuka said,

"The prelude to Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suite No 1 in G Major if you're interested," Shinji said with a smile. "And thank you."

"I'm not the slightest bit nationalistic but I have to say German composers are the best," Asuka noted.

"Yeah, I'd have to agree with that," Shinji chuckled. "Say, what brings you back so early?"

"My date sucked," Asuka replied. "The guy was boring so I ditched him."

"Ah, okay," Shinji said. "I guess you must have high expectations."

"This guy didn't meet low expectations, trust me," Asuka scoffed.

"Okay, fair enough," Shinji said.

* * *

"Another JD and Coke, maestro! And make it a double!" Misato said to the barman.

"You better watch yourself Misato," Ritsuko warned. "You're quickly becoming drunk."

"Whatever! Anyway, I didn't come out to get nailed; I came out to get hammered!" Misato declared.

"Doesn't she just mean drunk?" Ritsuko asked with a sweat drop appearing over her forehead.

"Anyway, watch my drink. I'm off to the little ladies room," Misato said next.

"Uh, okay," Ritsuko said. "I think she's losing control."

"All the better," Kaji said with a devilish grin.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ritsuko asked with a grin of her own. "Planning to get lucky tonight?"

"It's a long shot with Misato," Kaji said with a sigh. "But if you don't try, then you'll never know."

"You've done it before," Ritsuko pointed out.

"That was a long time ago, though. We were just a bunch of kids goofing around in university," Kaji said.

"Does goofing mean having gratuitous amounts of sex as well?" Ritsuko inquired cheekily.

"It's all part and parcel," Kaji replied with incredible grace and poise.

* * *

Several hours later, Kaji was carrying a very drunk Misato on his back down a road. "I never imagined this was part and parcel of it," he sighed as he continued on down.

* * *

Asuka was sat at the table while Shinji was playing more cello. He hadn't been able to stop since he had started and as soothing as the music was, Asuka found herself rather bored. After the abysmal date earlier that day, she found that there was only one thing she wanted to do in her boredom.

"Hey Shinji, do you want to kiss?" Asuka asked.

Shinji immediately dropped his cello, stood up and said, "Do I ever!"

The lights in Misato's flat suddenly faded to a dim glow and her CD player came to life and the song that played was none other than Marvin Gaye, 'Let's Get It On'. Shinji also made a rose appear in his hand which he handed over to Asuka. The music and the lights created an atmosphere that was sweeping Asuka off her feet. She had no idea how any of this was happening but she was loving it. She was loving it even more when Shinji wrapped his arms around her and brought her face closer where they embarked on a passionate and rich voyage of affection. The kiss lasted for about a minute with the soulful voice of Marvin Gaye in the background. Asuka had thoroughly been swept off her feet and she never imagined Shinji would have the guts to do any of this.

"Shinji, that was incredible," Asuka said.

"There's more where that came from," Sthe teenage God added. They kissed again and as they did, a drunk Misato and a tipsy Kaji entered the flat. Both Shinji and Asuka completely ignored their entrance. "You know, I think I've seen it all now," Kaji said with a rather perplexed look oh his unshaven face.

* * *

God was playing golf at a golf course close to both Sydney and the western Australian coast. He had just hit his first hole-in-one of the day when he saw Shinji win over Asuka's love and affection. God chuckled to himself and said, "Once you played that Marvin Gaye, there was no way she could have resisted!" 


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

Shinji awoke and found himself lying on the sofa in Misato's living room. He also found that he had his arm wrapped around a certain redhead who was lying beside him. They had obviously both fallen asleep on the sofa after kissing each other properly for the very first time. Shinji remember that Misato and Kaji were even watching the two of them kiss. He smiled, knowing that things were looking up for him. Once again, Shinji thanked God for the second chance before standing up and heading off to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast.

Surprisingly, Misato was already there in the kitchen, who was up but not quite awake. She looked as rough as a badger and was struggling to operate her toaster. "Good morning, Misato," Shinji greeted.

"Hmph," Misato grunted in reply. "Morning."

"Do you want a hand with that?" Shinji asked, seeing that Misato was having trouble with her aim on the task of putting bread into a toaster.

"Yeah," Misato said before groaning. "I'm so hung-over and I have to go to work today as well."

"It's what you get for drinking too much," Shinji pointed out.

"Hey, when you get to the legal drinking age, then you'll discover what I'm going through," Misato retorted weakly. "Could you make me some coffee as well?"

"How about I just make you breakfast?" Shinji offered.

It was an offer Misato couldn't refuse, "Yeah, go for it."

Had Shinji been cruel, he would have cooked up the greasiest, fattiest, full fried breakfast that would have made Misato want to dry heave by just looking at it. However, he settled on making her some toast and coffee. As Shinji was working away, he was sure he heard Misato begin to snore. And rightly enough, her head was down on her arms on the table, where she was trying in vain to make up for lost sleep.

She awoke when Shinji placed her breakfast and coffee in front of her. Misato then smiled weakly to Shinji before taking a sip of her coffee. And as soon as Misato swallowed that first bit of coffee, her hangover vanished. "Wow," Misato said. "I don't know what you put in the coffee, but it's sure worked as a hangover cure!"

"Really? That's pretty neat," Shinji said with a smile, knowing that it was his Godly powers that made Misato's hangover disappear, a sort of special ingredient of the coffee even.

Misato, felling much better, munched through her toast and said her goodbyes to Shinji before heading off to another day at NERV. Shinji then checked out the window to make sure she didn't break anything whilst driving out. There wasn't much hope of that however. Misato tried to reverse out of her parking space but didn't realise that she was in fifth year so her car spluttered and stalled to a halt. After getting it started again, Misato got into reverse that time and reversed out of her parking space…straight into the front of another car. Misato then accelerated off out onto the road, taking out three rubbish bins and nearly running a cat over before finally making it out onto the street. Shinji found Misato's morning driving to be most cringe worthy.

Shinji began cooking up breakfast for himself and Asuka after Misato had left. It had only struck seven o'clock then so Shinji was in no hurry. He turned around and looked toward the living room to see Asuka was still sleeping like a baby on the sofa. Happy that she was asleep, Shinji clicked his fingers to have breakfast all prepared with the table all set in an instant. And just like that, a full fried breakfast was ready for eating. Shinji smiled, for he knew the glory of omnipotence.

The door bell ran and Shinji went forward to answer it. Asuka was still soundly asleep and it seemed like she would be staying that way. The bell rang several more times before Shinji finally got to it. He opened the door to see three men, all dressed in black suits and all with sunglasses on. And Shinji swore that the men were Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Al Pacino.

"Hey kid, remember me?" the Robert De Niro look-alike asked.

"Oh, yeah, the Archangel Michael," Shinji said. "I remember."

"Good. These are my close associates and fellow archangels, Gabriel and Raphael," Michael said. Shinji recalled that the one that looked liked Christopher Walken was Gabriel and the one that looked like Al Pacino was Raphael. "Uh, hello," Shinji greeted.

"Now that we're done with the pleasantries," Michael said, "it's time we took a walk, kid."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Shinji asked, suddenly worried.

"He said it's time we took a walk, capeesh?" Raphael said, grabbing Shinji's arm. Gabriel grabbed Shinji's other's arm while Michael shut Misato's door. Then, they began to drag a now very frightened Shinji away from his home.

Shinji struggled to keep his feet on the ground with the rate that the archangels were dragging him. Shinji now literally feared for his life now, as they definitely meant business. The fact that they all looked like gangsters didn't help matters as Shinji wondered what he had done to deserve this. They took him into a nearby park and thankfully stopped. "Siddown!" Michael said, pushing Shinji onto a bench. Shinji was utterly terrified at this point. Their faces all showed stern and serious expressions and they seemed intent on no good. Shinji watched as Michael took his sunglasses off while Gabriel was rolling and stretching his arms and Raphael was cracking his knuckles very, very loudly. There was no better way to put it; Shinji was shitting himself.

Suddenly, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael burst out laughing. Shinji sat there, terrified and now confused. "We had you going, didn't we kid?" Raphael asked.

It all dawned on Shinji now, "Oh, very funny guys! I was crapping myself!"

"You should have seen the look on your face, kid. It was priceless I tell ya, priceless!" Gabriel said.

"Pure gold," Michael agreed.

"I thought you were going to throw me in the back of a car boot and dump me in a river to swim with the fishies," said a very relieved Shinji.

"Doesn't seem like a bad idea, does it?" Raphael asked.

Shinji feel silent again and went so pale, albinos would think there was something wrong with him. He looked up at the three archangels and their expressions had changed completely. They all looked royally pissed off. "Gotcha!" Raphael exclaimed, laughing once more.

"Please, don't do that again!" Shinji cried, finally finding the bravery to breathe again after the silence.

"You're too easy, kid!" Michael chuckled. "Anyway, we're only having a little joke, ain't that right fellas?"

"Yeah, that's right," Gabriel agreed.

"And besides, we don't get to do this often," Michael added.

"Well, please don't. It doesn't help that you all look like mobsters," Shinji said.

"Hey, why else do you think we're dressed like this?" Raphael asked with a smile. "Come on kid, take it easy now, you know we were only kidding."

"I'll try," Shinji said weakly.

Michael sat beside him and placed his arm around Shinji's shoulder, giving him a shake and said, "That's the spirit kid! Keep that chin up!"

The three archangels were then all stood up in front of Shinji who was sat on the bench. "So, what brings you guys here?" Shinji asked.

"The boss sent us to check up on you, just to make sure you're doing okay," Gabriel answered. "As well as that, it's not often we get to visit the Earth so we thought we might as well pop down. In fact, the last time I was done here was when I gave the three wise men and those shepherds directions to Bethlehem!"

"So, how you doing kid?" Michael asked.

"Well, fine, I guess. That is, until you guys showed up and nearly ruined my morning," Shinji said.

"Haha! The kid's got spunk!" Raphael said with a laugh. "Well, that's good to hear, Shinji."

"Thanks. I've had no problems really," Shinji said.

"Very good, very good," Michael said. "Well, the boss was touring Australia when he phoned us to come check on you and it was an excuse to leave the office."

"So wait, if you guys are down here and God's on holiday, who's looking after heaven?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, we got Lucifer to look it for us while we were away," Gabriel answered.

"What, the devil?" Shinji said in surprise.

"Hey, Lucifer's not a bad guy. He just gets a lot of stick from mankind for looking after them fiery pits, that's all," Gabriel explained. "Even if he does look like a psycho."

"He looks like a psycho?" Shinji said with a confused tone.

"He looks like Jack Nicholson," Michael explained.

"Ah," Shinji said, all of it making sense now. "So, if Lucifer's looking after heaven, who's looking after hell?"

"Hell is such an ugly word," Gabriel said with a slight frown. "We prefer to call it 'The Eternal Rehabilitation Centre'. And to answer your question, Lucifer's son, Nick, is looking after 'The Eternal Rehab Centre'. We like to call him Little Nicky."

"Little Nicky?" Shinji asked. "As in, the Adam Sandler movie?"

"True story," Michael said. "But Nicky looks nothing like Adam Sandler. Sorry to disappoint."

"It's okay," Shinji said. "I don't think Adam Sandler would like it too much if he was made in the image of the devil's son."

"You never know," Raphael said. "Anyway, we're going to explore town a bit before flying back heavenwards. Take it easy kid."

"Okay, sure. See you guys later," Shinji said.

"And don't screw up, because if you do, we'll have to make you _disappear_," Michael warned.

"Very funny," Shinji said with slight annoyance.

"Ha! The kid's catching on!" Michael laughed before he and the other archangels disappeared.

Shinji then clicked his fingers to take him back to Misato's flat in an instant. Once there, he turned around and saw that Asuka was just getting up at that moment. Shinji's heart missed a beat. Had returned to Misato's flat any later, Asuka would have seen him appear out of thin air which would have definitely raised many questions out of the girl. Shinji pretended to have just finished setting the table as Asuka walked up to him.

She wrapped her arms around Shinji's waist from behind and Shinji immediately felt a warm sensation rush through his body. He never imagined Asuka could show such affection to him spontaneously. It was definitely a change for the better and Shinji thanked God yet again for his second chance.

"Good morning," Shinji said.

"Good morning, Shinji," Asuka greeted back. "Up early?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied. "I made breakfast though."

"And it looks great," Asuka said with a smile.

The two sat down and Shinji noted how Asuka seemed dreamy, staring into space with a serene smile whilst toying with her food with her fork. After their kiss the previous night, Shinji would have thought it would have been him who was in a dreamy, surreal state of mind while Asuka remained calm and steady.

"You know what," Asuka said whilst still looking off into space.

"What?" Shinji inquired.

Asuka turned her head to face him and said, "What came over you last night to kiss me like that?"

Shinji's face went red, "Well, uh, I don't know. I just wanted to kiss you."

"Yet the Shinji I've always known would have never done anything like that," Asuka said.

"You think?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Asuka replied. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Shinji?!"

Asuka had leapt onto the table and grabbed Shinji by the shoulders while she was on her knees on the table. Her head was almost directly over his and she was staring deeply into his eyes. She was also wearing a fairly loose top which exposed a fair amount of her cleavage to the teenage God who was feeling fairly exhilarated by the girl's performance.

"Asuka," Shinji said, "you're so goddamn hot." He pulled Asuka's face towards his and they kissed once again, deeply and intimately. "I don't know what's happened to you Shinji," Asuka said once their lips had parted, "but I really, really, like it."

"Nothing's happened," Shinji said with a coy grin. "Well, I did kiss you for the first time ever last night but that's a different story." Shinji soon found that his mouth was kept off the task of eating that morning by something rather more feminine and attractive. It was an indulgence that Shinji definitely would like to partake in more often.

* * *

Misato was pleasantly surprised when she examined the results that were coming in from the synch test. She glanced over at Ritsuko Akagi who smiled back to Misato. The blonde doctor was also very impressed with the sudden surge in the ratios that two of the three children were achieving. "Shinji's synch ratio has gone up a whole five points," Ritsuko noted.

"That's good," Misato agreed. "But that's nothing compared to Asuka's synch ratio."

"Yes, hers is pretty unbelievable," Ritsuko said, glancing over Maya Ibuki's shoulder at the monitor that displayed the pilots' synch ratios "Over ninety percent. I don't know what she's done but her mind is highly accommodating to synching at the moment. Misato?"

"Yeah?" the purple haired woman said.

"Do you know of anything that either Shinji or Asuka could have done to bring themselves into such an optimal mindset for synchronisation?" Ritsuko inquired.

"I'm not sure," Misato admitted. "When Kaji took me home after that wedding we went to, I'm sure that he told me that Shinji and Asuka were doing something together and I'm sure that I saw them doing something as well. The thing is, I was too drunk to remember."

Ritsuko cringed before saying, "Oh, I see."

"I could always ask Kaji," Misato pointed out.

"You could," Ritsuko said. "It would be interesting to know what they did to boost their psyches so much."

"Oh wait, I remember now!" Misato exclaimed. "They were making out! That was it!"

Ritsuko and the three technicians all sweat dropped. They were thankful that the microphone for speaking to the pilots in the test plugs wasn't on. "Okay," Ritsuko said, still struggling not to cringe. "Well, if they are involved in that way, then I wouldn't see any reason why that wouldn't boost their test scores because of improved mentalities."

"Are you saying that Shinji and Asuka being in a relationship improves their synch ratios?" Misato asked with a cunning idea. "I think I shall set Rei up with a boyfriend if that's the case."

Ritsuko cringed yet again and said, "It's not the being in the relationship that affects the synch ratio, it's the state of mind that results from it. Obviously, if Shinji and Asuka are in a relationship together, then they would be happy and have a positive and upbeat mindset which is conducive to synching. The opposite is also true. Bad experiences can affect the mindset in a negative manner as well."

"That's very interesting," Misato said. "Still, I think I should get Rei a boyfriend if it'll get her synch ratio to jump! I mean, it's been average for a while."

"She can still pilot and fight in the Eva," Ritsuko said, "so while a higher synch ratio is desirable for Rei, it's not altogether necessary."

"Everything has to be so logical for you, eh Ritsu?" Misato asked.

"I'm a scientist, Misato. I don't work with instincts, passions and emotions," Ritsuko replied with a sad sigh.

"Sucks for you," Misato chuckled.

The NERV Operations Officer turned then turned her attention to the pilots themselves after her discussion with the Head Scientist. "Listen up guys," Misato said. "Shinji, your synch ratio has risen by five points and is up to 83 percent. Asuka, you're synch ratio has skyrocketed up to 94 percent."

"And that's why I'm the best," Asuka said proudly.

"Well, you do have the best synch score," Misato said. "Well done you three. The test is over."

* * *

God finished his stint of golfing on the east coast of Australia and flew out from Canberra International Airport down to Hobart International Airport in Tasmania. Once there in the capital of the Austalian Island State of Tasmania, he went about wine and cheese tasting as well as sampling some of the local apple ciders. As the morning beckoned on the second day of his stay, God went to rent a yacht for a round trip around the Island. He set out from a Hobart marina before being struck by bad vibes. He looked over to the direction of Japan and said, "Shinji, I have a bad feeling. Something really bad is going to happen. It's Asuka...she's going to die today."

* * *

Tokyo-3 was once again subject to a full city state of emergency as another angel was detected. The people who could leave the city altogether did, taking no chances with the presence of the angel in the city. Those who could not had to seek refuge in the numerous shelters that were dotted about underground throughout the city. After the angel was detected and the state of emergency was declared, UN and JSDF forces made their way to the outskirts of the city, poised to take action at any given moment.

NERV was as usual the epicentre of the action where personnel worked furiously as the Evangelion Units were placed off standby and prepared to launch. Misato waited in the command centre for the green light to go. "All readings are normal," Maya reported. "No problems detected."

"We are go for launch," Makoto Hyuga said.

"Right. Evangelion Units 00, 01 and 02, LAUNCH!"

The Evangelion units moved into the city and took up tactical positions throughout. Each unit was armed with differing armaments. Rei, a decidedly reserved character, somehow ended up with the biggest and most badass of the lot. "Why does Wondergirl get the big gun?" Asuka moaned in annoyance.

"Because she asked nicely," Misato replied with a wide grin. However, the time for jokes was over. "Okay, Asuka, you have the point. Shinji and Rei will back you up," Misato ordered.

"Just how it should be," Asuka said to herself.

"Roger that," Shinji said.

"Yes ma'am," Rei acknowledged.

They all caught glimpses of the angel and all found it rather strange. It was just a black and white sphere floating relatively still above the city of Tokyo-3. It had no discernable means of attack and it looked fairly harmless. However, the three knew that dealing with angels was to expect the very unexpected. "You two in position yet?" Asuka asked.

"Not yet," Rei said, shuffling her Eva along the streets of Tokyo-3.

"Nearly…damn!" Shinji said, seeing that his umbilical cable had been pulled tort. He ejected it and pulled another one off another socket before placing it in his Eva.

"Are you there yet?" Asuka inquired impatiently.

"Almost," Rei said.

"Yeah, what she said," Shinji replied.

"Oh, for God's sake, will you two hurry up?!" Asuka cried. "You can't get any good help these days. I'll have to do this myself."

Much to Misato's horror, Asuka pulled out from behind her cover and fired shots at the angel, only to see the black and white sphere disappear into thin air. "What the…?" were Asuka's last words before her Evangelion began to sink into a mysterious black shroud that suddenly appeared below her and most of the city.

"ASUKA!" Shinji cried, setting his Eva off in a sprint towards Asuka's Eva. He also tried to use his powers to try and get Asuka out of the grasp of the angel. However, when he got to her, Unit 02 had been totally enveloped by the angel and despite how hard Shinji tried to use his powers to get her out of there, nothing was happening. And to make matters worse, the angel tried to suck in Unit 01. Shinji had to literally clamber over a sinking building before getting himself away from the city. As he made his escape, Asuka remained a heavy thought in Shinji's mind. He tried to help her, both physically and using Godly powers and in both cases he had failed. There was nothing he could have done to help her.

* * *

Misato Katsuragi was completely on edge. She listened as Ritsuko explained what the angel really was. "The angel itself is the shroud you see consuming the city. It has a diameter of six hundred metres yet a thickness of only three nanometres. From what I've seen, the angel is some sort of Dirac Sea which is a theoritcal model of a vacuum as an infinite sea of particles possessing negative energy, first theorised by the British physicist Paul Dirac. To put it simply, the angel seems to exist within a different dimension and that shroud is the opening to this other dimension. This all can only be explained by abstract mathematical concepts," the doctor explained.

"So what the hell was that black and white sphere?" Misato asked.

"From what I've calculated, that sphere can only be best described as the angel's shadow," Ritsuko replied.

Misato swallowed hard before asking, "Asuka's stuck in that Dirac Sea?"

"Yeah, and we have no way of getting her out," Ritsuko replied.

"It's been four hours. She has twelve left, "Misato noted.

"That's if she doesn't try anything stupid," Ritsuko said.

"She won't," Misato said strongly.

"Misato, you know what Asuka is like…"

"NO! Don't you even dare say that! Just because she's slightly brash and self-centred doesn't mean she'll throw her life away that easily!" Misato snapped.

"I'm…I'm sorry. I should have never said that," Ritsuko said before turning. _How am I going to tell her the plan for killing the angel? _Ritsuko thought with an impending sense of doom.

* * *

Shinji sat on a bench with his head in his hands. As he sat, he kept on trying to use his powers to try to free Asuka from the prison that the angel had created around her. However, it wasn't working and he knew why because God had explained to him about the other forces at work which God had created to make mankind's existence unpredictable. Despite this knowledge, Shinji kept trying desperately, wanting to see Asuka's face again, wanting to hear her voice again, wanting to hold her hands again, wanting to kiss her again.

Rei sat across from Shinji and looked across to the boy, seeing the evident anguish in the boy's expression. Rei never really got on with Asuka but she felt a sense of worry as well for her fellow pilot and fellow girl. Rei didn't quite understand it however, as her relationship with Asuka could be best described as cagey and ropey. From Rei's calm appearance, her feelings could not have been read by any passers-by. However, from Shinji's current state, it was very clear that he was worried sick about Asuka.

"I'm…I'm sorry," Rei said.

Shinji looked over towards the blue haired girl and said, "Why do you say that?"

"About Asuka," Rei said. "I'm sorry that she was consumed by the angel."

"Please…don't say that. It makes it sound like there's no hope left for her," Shinji said quietly.

"I'm sorry Ikari. I did not mean for that," Rei apologised. The girl decided against talking anymore as her attempts to try to alleviate Shinji's worry just seemed to upset him more. Rei looked over to the city sinking into the shroud of the angel as wondered if she would ever see Unit 02 or the Second Child ever again.

* * *

Ritsuko walked across to Misato with news that would surely make the Operations Officer distraught. However, Ritsuko had to tell her and she couldn't put it off any longer. "Misato," Ritsuko said slowly.

"Hmm?" the purple haired woman asked, turning around to meet Ritsuko's eyes.

"I'm here to tell you about the operation…to solve this crisis," Ritsuko said.

Misato's face brightened up at the mention to a solution to the current situation. However, Ritsuko knew that Misato would just be shot down again as Ritsuko was only the bringer of bad news in this instance. "The operation begins in eight hours. Our two Eva's will be on standby as JSDF aircraft will fly over the angel and drop as many N2 bombs into the angel as required to kill it as required," Ritsuko explained.

"What…Ritsuko…that isn't a solution! That would surely kill Asuka and destroy Unit 02!" Misato cried.

"I know…it's all we have at the moment," Ritsuko pointed out.

"All you have? All you have?!" Misato yelled. "How the hell can you tell me that?! This is Asuka's life we're talking about here! Your plan signs her death warrant!"

"I understand that the operation would most likely lead to Asuka's death and even the destruction of Unit 02 but this is an angel we're dealing with. It may cause Asuka to die but it's necessary to kill the angel and…"

Ritsuko stopped as she felt a sharp pain in her left cheek after Misato slapped her. The sound of the strike seemed to linger in the evening air around them. "What was that for?!" Ritsuko cried.

"Do you think Asuka's life is worthless?!" Misato cried. "Are you willing to sacrifice her so easily?!"

"Misato! You know better than I do that we have to kill this angel and that the means will justify the ends! You can't let your emotional attachments get in the way of the task at hand and you know that, Goddammit!" Ritsuko yelled.

"You know, not everything has to be logical, Ritsuko," Misato said coldly.

"Misato, you give me no choice. As of now, you're no longer involved in this operation because of emotionally based irrationality. I'm taking command of the operation and it will proceed as scheduled!" Ritsuko said.

"What?! You can't do that!" Misato cried.

"Unless you have a plan to kill the angel that will work, I suggest you take my advice and not get involved," Ritsuko said. "For you own sake."

"It's not myself I'm worried about Ritsuko! Doesn't Asuka deserve a chance?!" Misato yelled. However, Ritsuko didn't grace her with a response and walked away coldly. As the doctor disappeared from view, Misato crouched down and began to shed tears of anguish and uncertainty. It was horrible, but she knew Ritsuko was right. However, because Misato was the guardian of Shinji and Asuka, she had a duty to protect them. Despite this, in the eyes of NERV and one Dr Ritsuko Akagi, the life of a pilot is not sacrosanct.

* * *

Shinji was back in Unit 01 and was still trying forlornly to bring Asuka back out of the angel using his so called powers. Shinji was losing faith and was feeling the agony build up inside of him. There had been nothing he could do and there was still nothing he could do to help the girl in Unit 02 that he had become emotionally attached to from almost certain death at the hands of the people that were her so called allies. She would be killed by the very organisation that sent her out to kill angels. Asuka piloted well and had taken part in several successful operations against angels and her thanks was basically a NERV sanctioned execution. Shinji watched as the digital clock within his entry plug began to count down closer and closer to the declared time for the operation beginning. He and Rei were on alert just outside the city in their Eva's just in case anything went wrong. Shinji heard and saw the JSDF aircraft circling high up above in the sky with their payloads of death. Five minutes until they dropped their N2 bombs. Five minutes until Asuka would die, either from her Eva running out of power or the explosion caused by the N2 mines. Shinji was losing it. He couldn't take it anymore. He broke away from his position and ran towards the black shroud of the angel.

"SHINJI!" Misato cried.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Ritsuko yelled in disbelief. "Abort the strike, abort the strike!"

"Sending the abort order," Shigeru Aoba said. "Abort order acknowledged."

"Shinji, he's…he's jumping into the angel!" Makoto Hyuga exclaimed.

"NO! SHINJI, NO!" Misato cried, thinking that she would lose both Shinji and Asuka.

"Get Rei to neutralise Unit 01 and get him out of there!" Ritsuko ordered.

"It's too late! Unit 01 is gone! It's totally gone!" Maya Ibuki said.

"Damn it!" Ritsuko cursed. "Why the hell has he done that?! Is he out of his mind?!"

"No…please no…not you as well Shinji," Misato said weakly, feeling more tears coming."

Misato and Ritsuko both looked out into the black shroud and saw no movement. As well as Unit 02, Unit 01 was gone as well, just like that. However, to both of their amazements, the black and white sphere above the shroud began to convulse and misshapen. "What the…?" said Shigeru. The other technicians also looked in amazement at the sphere.

Then, it exploded, sending red blood gushing out in all directions. The shroud on the ground literally shattered, sending blood into the air much like geysers. Misato was horrified by the image of the angel dying in the way it did and was horrified to see how _alive_ it was as well. Ritsuko couldn't fathom how any of this was happening.

It was then that they saw the figure of Unit 01, reddened by the blood of the angel, fall out of the exploded sphere with Unit 02 in its arms. Misato suddenly felt her spirits rise seeing both units, knowing that Shinji and Asuka were both alive and safe. As well as that, the angel was dead which killed two birds with one stone. Misato couldn't wait to hug Shinji and Asuka and tell the two of them how much they meant to her. However, Ritsuko knew that Shinji would be in for a much harder time.

* * *

Asuka had been placed in an intensive care unit after she had been recovered out of Unit 02 while Shinji was placed under arrest and presented before the commander of NERV. "Disobeying orders, subordination, gross misconduct," Gendo read from the report. "Do you understand the seriousness of these crimes?"

"I did what I had to do," Shinji said, rather cheerfully.

"I don't think you quite comprehend what you're in for," Gendo pointed out. "These are offences, if found guilty during military court martial, that can land you for hard time in a military prison."

"You're not going to do it though because you're a pussy and you need me to pilot Unit 01," Shinji said.

"What was that?!" Gendo cried. "Do not try to undermine me or else there will another crime in this list of yours."

"What's the matter, pops? Have I hurt your feelings?" Shinji inquired sardonically.

Gendo was about to say something but before he could, a messenger arrived in his office. "Sir, 'the lance' has successfully been recovered from Antarctica after the initial waiting," the messenger reported.

"Very good. You may leave now," Gendo said.

"Uh, sir, there's something else," the messenger added, "there were, uh, stowaways, um, on the ship back from Antarctica."

"Stowaways?" Gendo asked in a confused tone. However, his question was answered when dozens of Emperor Penguins made their way into Gendo's office. Shinji smiled, knowing that his powers had worked wonders once again. "What the hell are these penguins doing here?!" Gendo cried, stood up behind his desk.

"Like I said, they're stowaways," the messenger pointed out.

"Well, get them out of here!" Gendo ordered.

"Uh, I'm sorry sir, that appears to be above my pay grade," the messenger said before leaving swiftly.

Gendo found himself inundated and surrounded by Emperor Penguins and Emperor Penguin chicks all looking for a new home. The NERV Commander struggled to comprehend how and why that had managed to get through NERV's tight security to end up in his office. "Yoo-hoo? Weren't you going to punish me?" Shinji inquired.

"Agh! Just…get out!" Gendo cried, not actually speaking to Shinji.

"Okay. Whatever you say, pops!" Shinji said, making the handcuffs fall off his hands using his powers and making his hasty getaway. As Shinji left, Fuyutsuki entered and was bemused by the sight before him. Before the Deputy Commander could even open his mouth, Gendo said, "Don't even ask."

* * *

Asuka Langley Sohryu opened her eyes slowly and blinked several times after being subject to natural light once more. She was lying in a hospital bed, physically exhausted but unhurt. As Asuka was taking different things in, she felt a pressure around her left hand. She moved her head to check and saw Shinji Ikari's hand grasping hers in a reassuring manner.

"Hey gorgeous," Shinji said with a smile.

However, Asuka didn't return Shinji's smile, "I…I messed up…didn't I?"

"No you didn't," Shinji said, "Asuka Langley Sohryu never messes up."

"If only that were true," Asuka said, knowing she was uninjured but hurt deep down inside. She had failed. She hadn't proved how good a pilot she was; all she did was show how weak and vulnerable she was. Yet, despite all her negative thoughts, the very touch of Shinji's hand was bringing her warmth and strength.

"Asuka," Shinji said. "I'm here for you…I'm always here for you."

With that, Asuka finally managed a smile before saying, "Shinji, I think I love you."

Shinji was elated with Asuka's response and said, "Asuka, I think I love you too."

"Good," Asuka said. "Then get me some ice-cream. I _am_ in a hospital."

Shinji chuckled before saying, "Anything for you."

* * *

Up in heaven, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Lucifer were sat around a table, playing a game of Texas Hold 'em. "Show boys," said Gabriel.

"Two pair," Michael said.

"Three of a kind," Raphael said.

"Full house," Lucifer said, before breaking out into a laugh. "Read 'em and weep!"

"Lucifer takes it," Gabriel declared.

"Oh, I love winning," Lucifer added with a chuckle. Many found his resemblance to Jack Nicholson uncanny. Lucifer just laughed about it.

The phone rang as Raphael was dealing cards out and Michael went to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hello Michael. It's me."

"Oh, hey boss. How's the holiday going?"

"Just splendid. I'm in Tasmania just now. Listen, I think I'm onto something with Shinji."

"The kid? What about him, boss?"

"I think he's the one. The one who has the ability to change fate. He just did it today."

"He did what?!"

"His missus, Asuka Langley Sohryu, was set to die today. Shinji saved her life and beat fate. This kid's special."

"That's big stuff, boss. I'll make sure to keep a close eye on the kid from know on."

"Thanks Mike. Bye."

"Bye, boss."

Michael hung up and rejoined the game. "What was the boss saying?" Raphael inquired.

"The boss thinks Shinji's the one. The one example of mankind that can change fate itself," Michael said.

"That's big stuff," Lucifer noted. "Especially since fate is such a pain in the ass!"

"Very true," Michael agreed. "Anyway, I said we'd keep a closer eye on the kid from now on."

"I knew he had it in him," Gabriel said with a smile.

Michael gave a smile of his own and said, "I think we all did."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters or any of the other copyrighted thingamabobs I may have used. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

"Where am I?" Asuka asked. She received no answer. Instead, she found that her voice echoed out into the darkness. There was no hiding it; Asuka was afraid. She was alone in this dark place which seemingly had no boundaries. Asuka turned around, and around, only to see more and more darkness. It wasn't pitch black, but rather a foggy black which was all the more unsettling. And despite being clothed in her favourite yellow sundress, she felt naked; she felt like anybody could be watching her. 

"Hello?" Asuka called out, getting only the echo of her voice in reply. She wondered forward blindly, not knowing what the next step ahead of her presented. As she walked, the foggy, murky blackness seemed to dissipate. As it did, a large red object began to come into Asuka's view. She moved forward, quickening her pace, curious to see what the object was. As she got closer, the object became larger and more clearly defined. And then came the point where she could make out what it was.

"Eva Unit 02?" Asuka said out loud. She was surprised to see it, yet somehow she had been expecting to see it. Somehow, she felt that within her life, this giant weapon was the only thing she had a connection to. And for that, Asuka hated herself. It was simply a machine, a bringer of death, a toy or doll even. It was inanimate, yet for most of her young life, this was the only thing Asuka truly had a connection to.

"Why are you here?" Asuka asked to the massive structure towering over her. "I didn't want you here. Why are you here?" Again, the only things Asuka heard were the echoes of her voice. Then, the black fog began to envelop the Evangelion Unit and almost instantly completely obscured it from view. Asuka stretched her arm out to try and grab it but it disappeared too quickly. And like that it was gone, as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Asuka," said a female voice. The young German girl snapped her head around to the source of the voice but couldn't as the echoes bounced off everywhere. "Do not be afraid," the voice continued.

"Who the hell are you?!" Asuka cried.

"You are a part of me, Asuka," the voice continued. "I am here to help you and to protect you."

"Protect me?!" Asuka yelled. "I don't need protecting! Who are you?! Show yourself!"

Suddenly, the blackness was all gone. Asuka saw herself in a dimly lit hospital corridor. And as Asuka came to her senses, her memory told her where she was. Asuka's heart dropped. She felt like screaming for someone to get her out of there. Yet, where she opened her mouth, no words escaped.

"She just stands there, watching her," Asuka heard from behind her. She snapped her body around and saw a man and a female doctor, both of whom she knew all too well. The man was her father and the woman was her stepmother. She felt contempt for her stepmother but couldn't express why in words. It had long gone past her trying to replace Asuka's real mother. And her father, Asuka couldn't really describe how she felt about him. She didn't know whether she should loath him or love him. These were people that Asuka separated herself from emotionally. She always acted like the good girl in front of them but it was merely an act. It was devoid of all sincerity.

Asuka turned to look at the girl her father and stepmother were looking at. And like she had thought, the little girl was herself. The young Asuka Langley Sohryu, witnessing her mother gone insane behind a glass screen. "It's a shame," the doctor, Asuka's stepmother-to-be in this instance, said. "Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu, the famous GEHIRN scientist is reduced to this."

"Can she no longer acknowledge our daughter?" Asuka's father asked.

"No. She thinks that doll is her daughter when in fact her true daughter stares through that screen, calling for her mother," the doctor answered. "It's chilling, that she can think that the doll is really her daughter when it is in fact only an inanimate substitute, ersatz, even."

"It is the result of an experiment gone horribly wrong," Asuka's father pointed out.

"Even so," the doctor said coldly, "can a mother not be a mother?"

"What do you mean?" Asuka's father asked.

"She was a scientist before a mother. Had she been a mother in the first place then…well, maybe none of this would have happened," the doctor said.

"No," Asuka said. "That's a lie. Nothing could have stopped it. She did it because she had to, right?"

_Believe what you want._

"Did mother…abandon me?" Asuka said.

_Believe what you want._

"But…I don't want to believe anything! I want to know the truth!" Asuka cried.

_You know the truth. How you perceive the truth is at dispute here. _

"How I perceive it?" Asuka asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

_Everything._

Asuka looked up and found herself in a German cemetery. Within the cemetery itself were many oak trees, making the cemetery almost a small forest, in-keeping with the traditional German veneration of forests. Asuka then saw the grave she was standing before. It was her mother's. "Why did you have to die, mother?" Asuka asked, as dark clouds began to onset above her. Asuka didn't care though. It was only rain. She could stand before her mother's grave regardless of anything else around her.

Asuka felt the cold, stinging raindrops on her bare shoulders and despite how unpleasant it was, she didn't mind it. She stood there, simply looking at the gravestone of her mother. The minutes passed and Asuka's yellow sundress was soaked through. The rainwater was dripping from all over her body as she continued to stare at the grey granite.

Then, she felt the rain stop. She looked behind her and saw Shinji Ikari, dressed in a black overcoat, holding an umbrella over her head. "Hey gorgeous," he said.

"Shinji?" Asuka said slowly, turning to face the boy.

"I'll do anything for you, Asuka," Shinji said, before pulling Asuka's face towards his.

Just as their lips were about to meet, everything around her as well as Shinji disappeared, turning back into that same black fog. Asuka found herself afraid and uncomfortable as soon as Shinji had gone. As well as that, she was cold and wet which didn't help matters. "I don't understand," Asuka said, wondering what was going on.

_Do not be afraid, Asuka._

"Who are you?" Asuka asked.

_Do not be afraid, Asuka._

Asuka was becoming nervous, "Who are you and what do you want?!"

_I will always be with you, my child, and Shinji will always be by your side…_

"My…child…?"

Asuka shot upwards from her bed and found herself sitting up, her forehead covered in sweat. "It was only a dream," she said to herself quietly. _It was a dream, but the visions in that dream where almost exactly the same as the ones I saw when I was trapped in the angel, _Asuka thought. _Except for the vision of Shinji. Why did I see him in that dream?_

Asuka clambered out of her bed and left her covers unmade. She drew her curtains and opened her window to receive an unexpected chill. She immediately shut the window and muttered, "I thought it was meant to be summer all year round! What's with the cold?!" She checked that she was suitably dressed to be seen by other people and headed out of her bedroom and into the living room. She saw that Shinji was slouching on the sofa, watching TV.

Asuka went round and jumped the boy, giving him a pleasant surprise. "Morning Shinji," Asuka said, wrapping her arms around the boy.

"Ah, Asuka! Good morning," Shinji said, trying to get the girl off of him.

"Watcha doing?" Asuka inquired as soon as she was seated next to the boy.

"Watching the news," Shinji replied, placing his arm around Asuka's shoulders.

"The news? I didn't know you liked to be informed," Asuka said with a raised eyebrow.

"You'd be surprised, babe," Shinji replied. "There's a big story on that I want to hear about."

"CNN? American news?" Asuka asked.

"It's Japanese subtitled," Shinji pointed out.

"Great. Because that'll do me a lot of good," Asuka said with an annoyed huff.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you can't read kanji," Shinji noted.

"I'm better off trying to understand the English," Asuka said.

The two lovebirds quietened down as the voice of James Earl Jones said, "This…is CNN."

"So it is," Asuka noted sardonically.

"Hello and good evening from the CNN news team, I'm Evan Baxter."

"And I'm Susan Ortega…"

"Good evening?" Asuka inquired.

"Time difference," Shinji pointed out.

"Ah," Asuka said.

"…and to cover this latest incident live from the Nevada desert, we'll take you right to our reporter on the scene, Bruce Nolan."

"Thank you, Evan. Now, information at the current moment is very sketchy, but from what I can deduce, this was a military research facility funded by the UN. Exactly one hour ago, there was a massive explosion, leaving no trace of the facility. If you can look behind me, you can see the scarring on the terrain. Now, two things have officials in Washington and the UN itself worried. Firstly, this was an absolutely massive facility, covering acres of ground with over twelve thousand people working here. The explosion was enough to wipe all of it off the face of the earth. And secondly, it's the fact that nothing remains of the facility _at all_. The ground behind me is scorched to the point where there is only the desert sand remaining, all within a radius of about 56 miles."

"Bruce, can you tell us what kind of research went on at the facility?" inquired Susan Ortega.

"That is something that remains to be discovered. There is great speculation about what went on here from weapons research, secret aircraft testing, even housing capturing aliens and alien technology. The site of the facility was that of the infamous Area 51, although the facility was renamed a considerable while ago. So, conspiracy theorists are having a field day but as far as we are concerned, there are no hard facts about what went on at this research centre."

"What do the officials in the White House, or even the Pentagon, have to say about the incident?" Evan Baxter asked.

"So far, there has been no official word from anywhere. I had senior military officials on the line earlier and they refused to make any comment. That's not to say they're uninformed. There is a huge military presence here, making sure that nobody gets too close to the scene. Apart from that, there is no indication of the official stance on the incidence. And that's the way the cookie crumbles on this story. Back to you, Evan and Susan."

"Thank you Bruce. Adding his insights to this incident…"

"What do you make of that?" Asuka asked.

"I don't know," Shinji replied. "That wasn't the story I was looking for."

"Huh? Oh, well," Asuka said.

"Here it is," Shinji said, having changed channels to a Japanese news channel.

"…and in a surprising twist to Japan's perpetual summer, temperatures have been on the fall to new lows ever since Second Impact. Today's temperature around the Tokyo-3 region is a chilling eight degrees Celsius. Now, that would have been around the expected temperature around this time of year pre-Second Impact. November is chilly again and it looks set to be the first cold winter in thirteen years. So, some of you may ask, how on earth has it suddenly gotten so cold? Well, the answer lies in the Antarctic. The entire ice continent suddenly reappeared to its pre-Second Impact state about a month and a half ago which affected global water temperatures and is returning the earth's climate to what is was like before Second Impact. Now, what has scientists and experts perplexed is how the icy continent could have reappeared so suddenly with its ecosystem completely intact. Nobody has come up with a convincing explanation so far but it has led many conspiracy theorists to question the nature of Second Impact. Was it really a meteor strike, some ask. Several radical theorists from Essex, England have claimed that Second Impact was far from a meteor strike, but rather a military experiment gone wrong which sent the whole of Antarctica into another dimension. However, other theorists from Paris, France, contest these claims, saying that an inter-dimensional shift couldn't have caused the damage which Second Impact indeed did cause. Nobody knows who to believe, and personally, I find these eccentric theorists' stories incredibly farfetched. Now, for the weather in this region…"

"That explains why it is so cold outside," Asuka said.

"That's the story I was looking for," Shinji pointed out. "It's weird, huh?"

"Tell me about it," Asuka said. "It's like some sort of miracle, Antarctica reappearing like it did. "

_Haha! Hit the nail on the head there Asuka, _Shinji thought, knowing that he was the one responsible for Antarctica's reappearance. Really, he had been trying to play a prank on his father but he ended up doing the planet a whole lot of good as well, which was always a plus. "Anyway, enough news," Shinji said, switching the TV off. "How does some making out, then breakfast, then more making out sound?"

"I love you Shinji," Asuka said, knowing that he knew exactly what she had in mind.

* * *

"The 2nd Branch? It disappeared?" Misato asked. 

"Yep, that's right, along with the twelve thousand NERV and UN personnel that worked there," Ritsuko answered. "All gone off the face of the earth, along with Unit 04. It happened during the installation of the experimental S2 engine."

"That answers one of my questions," Misato said. "My second question would be why the hell are there penguins dotted about NERV headquarters?!"

To the bemusement of the operations officer during her walk into work, she walked past numerous Emperor Penguins and when she had gotten to the command post, there were more penguins loitering about the place. "I have absolutely no idea," Ritsuko replied. "I'm just as confused as you are about the penguins."

"Well, okay. It's not as if I mind though. I do live with a penguin back home. Hell, I could even bring Pen-Pen into work so he could make some friends," Misato chuckled.

* * *

Up at the commander's perch, Gendo Ikari was sat in his usual badass pose, although today, he and Fuyutsuki seemed stricken with a permanent sweat-drop. "Ikari," Fuyutsuki said tediously, "can I ask again what you are going to do about the penguins?" 

"I am converting once of the obsolete Eva cages into an artificial Antarctica complete with ice and fish," Gendo replied, taking a sip of freshly brewed coffee out of a mug aptly labelled, 'The Boss'.

"What will the committee say if they learn you are spending their money on building homes for penguins?" Fuyutsuki continued.

"I do not know. But one thing is for certain. They do not have a penguin infestation," Gendo said. "And if they do ask, say that UN Animal Protection Laws prevent me from taking any drastic action."

"Fair enough," Fuyutsuki said. "Also, there is the issue of the 2nd Branch's disappearance. The old men are having a fit over that one."

"It should teach them a lesson. Not everything will go according to their scenario," Gendo said behind his blank poker face-like expression.

"Do you think the old men planted the penguins with listening devices?" Fuyutsuki mused randomly.

"There is no chance of that. They're not that audacious or creative," Gendo said, savouring the strong taste of coffee that lacked both milk and sugar.

"Very well," Fuyutsuki said, observing the movements of the penguins below. "Next on the agenda is temperature control within headquarters. We have received numerous complaints from staff about the cold."

"I am aware of that," Gendo pointed out. "A new central heating element has been added to NERV's climate control system as we speak."

"That settles that. Next on the agenda is the proposed transfer of Unit 03 from America over to here," Fuyutsuki said.

"They want to do what?!" Gendo exclaimed, spitting some coffee out of his mouth in the process.

* * *

"The Fourth Child?" Misato asked. 

"Yes. Because of the incident with the Nevada facility, the Americans want nothing more to do with the Evas, hence why they are tossing it at us like a hot potato," Ritsuko said, handing over a dossier to the operations officer. "Ergo, because we have a new Eva, we require a new pilot and out of all the potential candidates, this young man seems the most fitting choice."

"Toji Suzuhara," Misato said slowly. "I don't know how Shinji would take this."

"You know, Shinji is still technically under arrest," Ritsuko pointed out.

"He's what?!" Misato cried, dropping the document containing the pertinent details regarding the Fourth Child.

"Shinji, he's still under arrest. He was never actually released from NERV custody," Ritsuko explained. "The commander was grilling him when penguins entered his office out of the blue. Shinji made his getaway then."

"And how might I get him out of this mess?" Misato asked.

"Well, you don't need to, really," Ritsuko replied, taking a menthol cigarette out of a packet stored on one of the inside pockets of her lab coat. "It's just on paper."

"It's just on paper?!" Misato asked indignantly. "Ritsuko, do you realise the implications of Shinji being under arrest on paper? We are in an organisation run by the UN. The UN is a massive bureaucracy. In a bureaucracy, anything on paper goes. If Shinji is under arrest on paper, then Shinji is under arrest for real!"

"Relax Misato," Ritsuko said. "The whole of NERV's intelligence section is on strike anyway so it wasn't as if anything was going to happen."

"On strike? When the hell did this happen?" asked a bemused Misato.

"Today. It's because of conditions they say. It's too cold in their offices and they have no room because of the penguins," Ritsuko explained.

* * *

"And oh, did I mention that the entirety of the intelligence section is on strike?" Fuyutsuki asked, just as the thought occurred. 

"WHAT?!" Gendo cried, this time knocking over his mug of coffee, sending the contents over a document labelled, 'Human Instrumentality Project: Top Secret'.

"I'll take that as a no," Fuyutsuki said smugly. "They went on strike because of conditions. It's too cold in their offices they say and they have no room because of the penguins. They're demanding that you either get central heating along with getting the penguins out of their offices or a new office block all together."

"You know what?" Gendo said in exasperation. "Screw them! If it's a war of attrition they want, it's a war of attrition they'll get!"

"Uh, they didn't ask for a war of attrition," Fuyutsuki pointed out. "Also, you spilt your coffee."

"Huh, I did?" Gendo asked. When he saw the incredibly important and sensitive document he spilt it over, he grabbed his head and cried, "FOR THE HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP!!! ARGH!!!"

"It seems the master of puppets is being messed with," Fuyutsuki noted wryly. "How ironic."

* * *

Shinji was in class, making eyes at Asuka and not paying attention to the teacher in their lesson about post-war social reforms in Japanese society. These were slightly more relevant to Shinji's end of year exams than the lectures about Second Impact but Shinji had a girlfriend now so none of it mattered anymore. All of a sudden, out of the blue and totally off topic, the teacher said, "Mr Suzuhara!" 

Toji rarely ever turned up to school dressed in uniform, opting for a tracksuit instead. Today was once of those days where he once again ignored school dress codes. As well as that, he had been catching a snooze before the teacher had called his name. He jumped straight up to a rigid standing position before bellowing out, "Yes sir!"

"You are wanted in the headmaster's office," the teacher said.

There was an 'oooooh' from the class, immediately assuming that Toji had done something so bad as to merit a straight trip to the headmaster's office. "What did you do this time?" Kensuke chuckled.

"Beats me," Toji muttered before trudging out of the class with his hands firmly in his pockets as if to say he didn't care, being the teenage rebel he was.

He ventured out into the hallway and made sure to hurry to the office because despite all his acts of rebellion, he was also in the business of self-preservation and arriving late after being summoned to the headmaster's office was never good. Once there, he was surprised to see the principal standing outside with his secretary. "Ah, Mr Suzuhara. Don't worry, you're not in any sort of trouble," the headmaster said with a jolly smile. Toji surreptitiously blew a sigh of relief, knowing that he wasn't up a certain shit creek without a paddle.

"There is a woman here to see you from a certain organisation. I think you know the one," the headmaster explained. "Head on in, son." Toji nodded in acknowledgement before opening the door and venturing into the office. Much to his surprise, he saw a blonde woman dressed in a smart and suave grey suit jacket with a matching skirt which barely went past the halfway point of her hips. Toji could see her hips because she was leaning back in the headmaster's leather chair with her feet up on the right of the table. "Ah, yes, hello Mr Suzuhara," the woman said, holding a thin bamboo cane in her hand, patting against the palm of her other hand. Toji was sure he was in some sort of 'alternate cinema' film, expecting the woman to say, 'Toji, I've heard you've been a very naughty boy'.

"Uh…what's with the cane?" Toji asked.

"The what? Oh, crap!" the woman said, fumbling with the cane before in fell to the ground. She placed her feet on the ground and composed herself. "Sorry, I was just playing with that whilst I was waiting for you. Please, take a seat." Toji cocked an eyebrow before reluctantly placing himself on one of the chairs in front of the desk.

* * *

Back in class, Shinji chuckled at yet another of his brilliant pranks using Godly powers. He could only imagine the fun God would have on a regular basis playing pranks on people like Kim Jong-il, Than Shwe and Robert Mugabe.

* * *

God, who was basking in the sun in the Maldives, smiled and raised his glass in agreement with Shinji. "Oh, I have plenty of fun," God said with a smile.

* * *

Back inside the headmaster's office of Shinji's school, the woman introduced herself to Toji, "I am Dr Ritsuko Akagi, head scientist of the UN Special Organisation NERV. As you may be aware of, we possess the Evangelion and that some of your classmates are pilots of the Evangelion. We in Tokyo-3 are receiving a new Evangelion unit from the United States and you have been selected above all other candidates to pilot it and to assume the role of the Fourth Child. We are not forcing you to do this. It is up to you. The choice is yours." 

"So you want me…to pilot Evangelion?" Toji asked.

"That is correct," Ritsuko said, still slightly red from embarrassment from the first impressions Toji had received from her. Ritsuko really had no idea what had came over her.

"To do the same thing that Shinji, Asuka and Rei do?" Toji continued.

"Yes, that is correct," Ritsuko said. "The offer is there for you. Like I said, it is all up to you."

Toji brought himself into a state of deep deliberation before looking at the woman firmly and saying, "I'll do it but only on one condition."

"Listen son, you are in no position to make demands," Ritsuko pointed out calmly.

"Just hear me out, okay? My sister, she's in real bad shape and is in an intensive care unit inside the hospital downtown. They're trying their best for her over their but I'm afraid it won't be enough. I'll pilot Eva if…if you move my sister to the hospital at NERV," Toji said.

Ritsuko sat back and smiled. "Okay. That seems a fair enough request. We'll have your sister transferred over to our intensive care unit where she will receive some of the best medical care in the world."

Toji managed a smile and said, "Thanks."

"No, Mr Suzuhara, thank you. You are doing yourself, your friends, your country and the world a favour by signing up as an Eva pilot," Ritsuko said, getting the patriotism angel out at Toji.

"No…no problem," Toji said before leaving the office.

The school day went on and Toji was keeping to himself, wondering what to make of becoming an Eva pilot. He saw the pain Shinji had went through to pilot Eva. Would he go through the same thing? _I'm not piloting Eva to save the world, _Toji thought as he faked sleep in class. _I'm doing it for my sister. It's not selfish, but I'm only looking out for my family, nobody else. That's my reason, my cause to do something as crazy as pilot Eva. What's your reason, Shinji? Why do you do it?_

Lunchtime came and Toji continued to try and keep to himself by going up onto the roof for some time alone. However, he saw that Shinji had joined him. "Hey man, what's up?" Shinji asked.

"Oh? Nothing," Toji said quietly, his face telling a completely different story.

"When you say nothing, I know something's up," Shinji said.

"I guess there's no hiding anything from you," Toji chuckled. "I've been selected as the Fourth Child."

"The Fourth Child?" Shinji asked, despite knowing beforehand that Toji would be selected. "What do you make of it?"

"I don't know," Toji replied honestly. "I was just thinking about how I could make things better for my sister when I agreed to do it. She's getting moved to NERV's hospital in exchange for me becoming a pilot."

"I see," Shinji said. "I wish I had a reason as noble as that for piloting."

"Huh?" Toji asked, wondering how Shinji seemed to be answering the thoughts Toji had in class.

"I don't really have a reason," Shinji said. "I just do it. Before, it was to get approval and acknowledgement from people, even my father. Now, I'm just doing it because I feel obliged to. Weak reason, huh?"

"No man, I can understand how it's pretty easy to feel obliged to pilot Eva," Toji said with a smile.

"I guess," Shinji said. "Anyway, I'll leave you to yourself. Hope your sister gets better once she's moved."

"Thanks Shinji," Toji said.

* * *

Down in the schoolyard, there was an entirely different conversation going on. "You…like Toji?" Asuka asked. 

"I…think I do," Hikari replied with a flush face.

"Well, go for him! Grab him while he's ripe for the taking!" Asuka cried. It wasn't exactly the response Hikari was expecting from Asuka but it was a response nonetheless. "Go for him?" Hikari asked nervously.

"Yeah! You should try and make the first move, or make Toji make the first move! Get the ball rolling and you'll have him in the sack in no time!" Asuka said.

"Asuka!" Hikari cried at the redhead's comments, although it sparked a curiosity in Hikari. "Have you and Shinji ever…done it?"

"Yeah, all the time! We're like rabbits!" Asuka chuckled.

"Asuka!" Hikari cried.

"I'm only kidding! We haven't done it. Jeez, I've barely been his girlfriend for a month and besides, aren't we a bit young? It would be illegal in most places in the world," Asuka said.

"Not in Japan. The age of sexual consent is thirteen over here," Hikari pointed out.

"Being a European such as myself, I find that appalling! Sixteen is a much more appropriate age! But enough about sex and Japanese age of consent laws, you should go for him!" Asuka said.

"I thought you didn't like Toji," Hikari said.

"I don't. But I like you, Hikari, and if having that dork as your boyfriend will make you happy and bring some much deserved love into your life, then I'll be happy!" Asuka said.

"That's really…that's really sweet Asuka," Hikari said with a smile.

"Having a great boyfriend works wonders, huh?" Asuka chuckled.

"I'll say," Hikari agreed.

* * *

Several days later, Misato and Ritsuko Akagi were both stood with Toji Suzuhara, who was dressed in his plug suit, all at the Matsushiro test facility. They, along with many NERV personnel, were ready for the activation test of Unit 03. Everything was set and they had the green light to go. There was only one, tiny problem. 

"Where the hell is Eva Unit 03?!" Misato cried.

"It's been held up in the US," Ritsuko replied tiredly. "Baggage handler strike."

"A baggage handler strike?!" Misato exclaimed. "What the hell? It's an Eva, not baggage!"

"There are many things, components, spares and the like that need transported. Unfortunately, all the people trained to load those transport aircraft are on strike," Ritsuko said with a sigh.

"What's with people and strikes these days?" Misato asked in annoyance.

"I have no idea," Ritsuko said.

"This is a waste of time and money," Misato muttered.

* * *

Shinji could only use his powers to hold up Unit 03 for so long. He felt the baggage strike idea was genius but it could only last so long. Eventually, Unit 03 was lifted off from the US, bound for Japan. Shinji knew that the aircraft would fly through a cloud and the angel would latch itself to the Eva and cause Toji to become crippled. Unless Shinji intervened. Shinji had an idea which would save Toji and kill the angel, all in one. It was perfect.

* * *

Two days later, Toji was set to activate his Eva. Everything was good to go. "Okay Toji. Get ready," Ritsuko said, making sure that her NERV personnel and the American NERV personnel were all doing their jobs correctly. The hefty pre-activation checks were all done and double checked so they proceeded with the activation itself. Toji waited inside his entry plug as he heard an array of Japanese and American voices, all working to make his Eva go. 

"Okay, this is it," Misato said.

"Yup," Ritsuko said. "Voltage level has…crossed the borderline." Misato blew a sigh of relief. "Congratulations people," Ritsuko called out. "Evangelion Unit 03 has been successfully activated."

"Hear that Toji? Your Eva is good to go," Misato said.

"Phew," was all Toji could muster.

"Relieved, huh?" Misato laughed. "How do you feel about taking it for a spin?"

"A spin?" Toji asked. "Well, I guess that wouldn't hurt, ma'am."

"Of course it wouldn't! He does have the green light to go, right?" Misato asked.

"Yup. We could collect valuable data while he does," Ritsuko replied.

"Cool. Okay Toji, just think about walking," Misato said.

"Walking, right," Toji said, taking a tentative first few steps. Before he knew it, he was in full control of his Eva, performing the arduous task of walking.

Something was amiss elsewhere. "Doctor! The Second Branch in Nevada! It's reappeared!" Maya Ibuki cried.

"What? How could it?" Ritsuko asked in absolute shock.

"I don't know, but latest reports say that the facility reappeared along with all the personnel," Maya explained.

"And Unit 04?" Ritsuko further inquired.

"Nowhere to be seen," Maya said.

"Ma'am!" Shigeru Aoba called. "Unit 04 has been detected outside of Matsushiro!"

"Blood wavelength pattern is blue! Confirmed angel! Unit 04 has been taken over by an angel!" Makoto Hyuga called out.

"Crap! Get the Evas launched from Tokyo-3 right now! Get them over here!" Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" replied Makoto.

* * *

Shinji, Asuka and Rei were all there within minutes, ready to engage the angel that had consumed Unit 04. "Where's Toji?" Shinji asked. 

"He's in his Eva," Misato replied. "We're getting him out of there. I don't think he feels quite ready for his combat debut just yet."

"I don't know about that, ma'am!" Toji said. "You can count me in!"

"Well, all right," Misato said. "Just follow the lead of the three other pilots."

"Are you sure about this, Misato?" Ritsuko asked. "He's just barely started to get it walking."

"He's got three other Evas covering him," Misato pointed out. "As long as he sticks with them, he's fine."

"It's a bit like when Shinji first started," Ritsuko noted.

"Shinji didn't have three other Evas helping him out," Misato said.

Unit 03 joined Units 00, 01 and 02 and surprised the hell out of Asuka. "Toji?! The stooge?! He's the pilot?!" Asuka cried.

"Yup," Toji laughed. "Tragic, isn't it?"

"Just a bit," Asuka muttered. "Anyway, you can hide behind me while I kill myself an angel!"

The four Evas moved to find Unit 04 was heading straight for them. And it looked terrifying to all the pilots. It seemed to be frothing from the mouth and its overall appearance wasn't unlike that of an Eva zombie. "That's one ugly angel," Asuka said.

"Aren't they all?!" Shinji cried.

"Hmm, got me there babe," Asuka said.

"Can we proceed to the elimination of the target?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, let's go!" Asuka cried.

The hills surrounding the area put the four Evas and the angel in a valley that was almost a perfect square. Asuka immediately noted the resemblance it had to a wrestling ring. "Let's make this a tag match, only the angel has no tag partner and we have three each!" Asuka proposed.

"Sounds fair enough!" Toji said. "Let's go!"

Unit 04 didn't really stand a chance. The NERV Eva team all took turns performing vicious wrestling moves in it ranging from clothes-lines to pile-drivers. They hadn't noticed the angel was dead until fifteen minutes after it had been killed. "Uh, guys," Shinji said. "I think the angel's dead."

It was none other than Rei who had the angel by the neck. She let go of it and it collapsed to the ground in a battered heap. "Oh," said the blue-haired girl quietly.

"I guess we won," Toji said.

"Well, duh! No shit, Sherlock!" Asuka said.

"You guys done yet?" Misato asked. "We tried to tell you it was dead but you weren't listening."

"Oh. Oops," Shinji said. "Our bad."

"I blame the new guy," Asuka said.

"I concur," Rei agreed.

"Oh, thanks, blame the new guy!" Toji cried.

And Shinji laughed at that moment and was simply happy that Toji was safe and well and even made an addition to their team of Eva pilots. God wasn't in his heaven but hey, all was right with the world.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Bruce Nolan? Evan Baxter? Susan Ortega? No prizes for guessing which film they come from! 


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

Gendo lay back on the recliner, almost horizontal. He looked straight up at the roof which was a pale shade of grey. The walls of the room were a pallid white and the carpet was a rich royal blue. Gendo's recliner was placed centrally in the room and near him was Dr Ritsuko Akagi, sat in a large armchair. "I think…I am losing it," Gendo said slowly.

"I see," Ritsuko said, jotting some notes down in her notepad, "and what makes you think that?"

"Everything in general, really," Gendo replied with a sigh. "I've been having really bad luck recently and it's driving me crazy. It's like somebody is always playing pranks on me."

"I thought you didn't believe in luck," Ritsuko pointed out.

"I don't," Gendo said. "But I have no better explanation."

"You believe luck has nothing to do with it, yet luck is the only way you can explain it to yourself," Ritsuko mused.

"That is…vaguely it," Gendo said.

"Vaguely?" Ritsuko asked. "Does the word 'vague' come to mind because it best describes your situation?"

"What do you mean? The word vague has nothing to do with it," Gendo answered in an annoyed tone.

"I just have to explore all possibilities," Ritsuko pointed out with a frustrated huff.

Gendo had willingly asked for a psychiatric evaluation from NERV's head scientist who was thrilled at the opportunity to try some of the things she had learned from reading psychiatry and psychology textbooks. It would be interesting for her to break down the layers that formed Gendo Ikari in order to reveal to him what his problem may be, however large or small. It was an exciting prospect for the blonde doctor. So exciting, in fact, that she got the dreaded pictures of blobs in order to perform a Rorschach inkblot test on the commander of NERV.

"What do you see in this picture?" Ritsuko inquired, holding up a white card with black ink splattered over it. Gendo sighed and began to regret ever even thinking about going through this. "Don't give me that, commander," Ritsuko said firmly. "What do you see in this picture?" Gendo shrugged his shoulders in exasperation and scrutinised the picture. He looked at it very hard and suddenly, an image formed in his head. It was such a shocking image that he had to pull away from the picture card, seemingly repulsed by what he had seen in that image. However, he was wondering if what he had seen in the blob was just a one off. However, when he took his tinted glasses off and closed right in on the picture of the blob, he still saw the same image in his mind and was dumbstruck.

"Well, what do you see?" Ritsuko asked.

"I see…" Gendo said before stopping for fear of embarrassing himself.

"What do you see? There is no need in hiding. Everything you say is in the strictest confidence. I won't tell a soul," Ritsuko said.

"Well, what I see is…penguins," Gendo said.

* * *

"And then he told me that he saw penguins!" Ritsuko exclaimed with a martini in her left hand.

"Penguins?" Misato asked in surprise, taking sips out of a bottle of beer. The two women were sat inside a massive bar area that overlooked the Geofront. "That's right," Ritsuko said.

"So what did you say to him next?" Misato inquired.

* * *

"Penguins?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yes, penguins," Gendo replied. "I look into that seemingly meaningless blob of black ink and what I see is penguins."

"Plural?"

"Yes, plural. Many penguins. Standing on ice," Gendo added.

"One ice? Where do you see ice?" Ritsuko asked, wondering how the commander could have construed ice from a blob of ink.

"The white paper," Gendo answered. "The blob on the paper is like lots of penguins on ice."

"I see," Ritsuko said, never having read up on how to deal with a patient who managed to see penguins in a Rorschach inkblot test. She grabbed a psychology book from the table next to her and flipped it open before scanning through the desired page. However, she could not find anything about penguins. She also found that she was doing the Rorschach test totally wrong. However, she could not let the commander know that she was doing the test wrong. That would be detrimental to Ritsuko's position at NERV. "What should I do then, doctor?" Gendo asked.

"Uh, well…" Ritsuko murmured uneasily.

* * *

"What did you say to him?" Misato asked.

"I was getting to that," Ritsuko said. "At first, I wasn't sure what to say at all. Then, an idea struck me that would make the commander feel better and get me off the hook at the same time."

"So what was your bright idea then?"

* * *

"Well…I recommend you take a holiday," Ritsuko managed to say.

"A holiday?" Gendo said in surprise. "Doctor, I am the commander of NERV. There is no way I could take a holiday."

"Well, that's my recommendation, Commander, and I heartedly suggest you follow it," Ritsuko said in her most firm and authoritative voice.

"I…well…uh…I guess I should just follow the doctor's orders," Gendo said weakly.

"It's for your own good. Two weeks holiday, starting from now," Ritsuko said, relieved that she managed to stop Gendo finding out that she had no clue about both psychiatry and psychology. The commander stood up and left without any words of thanks and left the doctor on her own in the room. "I need a cigarette," she muttered.

* * *

Shinji and Toji both sat up on the roof of the school at lunchtime, trying to avoid a certain individual who was overly infatuated with all things Evangelion-related. "Do you think he'll find us here?" Toji asked.

"I hope not," Shinji replied with a tired sigh. "There is just no way of getting Kensuke to shut up so running away seems the best option."

"I just hope you're right," Toji said. "Also, you won't guess what happened."

"What?" Shinji asked.

"I found out that Hikari likes me, so I ended up asking her out," Toji answered with a coy grin.

"You're going out with Hikari? When did this happen?" Shinji inquired.

"Just this morning. Also, you won't believe who told me that Hikari liked me," Toji added.

"Who?"

"None other than Mrs Asuka Ikari," Toji replied with a chuckle.

"Asuka Ikari? Is that supposed to be some lame joke?" Shinji asked with an unimpressed face on.

"Well, you two are barely ever apart and when you are together, you're all over each other," Toji pointed out. "Some even say, although I'm not mentioning names, that you two are made for each other."

"That was Hikari who said we were made for each other, right?" Shinji said.

"Yeah, it was," Toji confirmed, knowing that it was obvious from the start.

"Oh well. It's a compliment," Shinji said with a slight smile. "I didn't think Asuka would tell you about Hikari liking you."

"What? You knew?!" Toji exclaimed

"Of course I knew. Everybody knew. I think you were the only person that didn't know!" Shinji pointed out as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Jeez, that sucks a bit," Toji muttered.

"It's okay though, because you're going out with Hikari so the end result works out for you," Shinji added.

"That is true," Toji said.

Then, when the two were just getting into conversation, Kensuke appeared up on the roof. "Oh shi-" Toji began to say before being cut off.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TWO GUYS ARE EVA PILOTS AND I'M NOT! WHERE'S THE FAIRNESS IN THAT??!" Kensuke screamed, running after the two pilots.

"Go! Run!" Shinji cried. The two then bolted and spent another fifteen minutes trying to get the crazed and psychopathic Kensuke away from them. It wasn't easy either. Kensuke didn't really know what he would achieve from chasing Shinji and Toji but chased them anyway because they both were Eva pilots, leaving him with nothing.

As Shinji ran, he considered using his powers to stop Kensuke but that seemed a rather drastic course of action so he decided to keep on running away along with Toji. However, they were suddenly met with a dead end and the two turned around to see Kensuke, seemingly ready to explode. "PLEASE!" he cried. "TAKE ME TO NERV! TELL THEM TO MAKE ME A PILOT!"

"Uh, I'm sorry buddy, we just can't do that," Shinji pointed out with a sweat drop appearing over his forehead.

"BUT YOU GOTTA! PLEASE!" he grovelled.

At that point, it was far too much for Shinji. He used his powers to turn Kensuke's opinions on war on its head. At first, it seemed as if nothing had happened and Kensuke was about to open his mouth to continue yelling and babbling but stopped. Instead, a lethargic smile appeared on his face and he said, "Dude, war sucks. Screw piloting Eva." And with that, Kensuke turned around, put his hands in his pockets and sauntered off away from the two Eva pilots. Toji was dumbstruck, "What was…what was that all about?!"

"I don't know," Shinji lied, shrugging his shoulders for effect. "Maybe he had a change of heart."

"Maybe he's lost his mind," Toji added, still utterly bemused by his bespectacled friend.

The two headed back to class as the bell for the end of lunch rang. When they entered, they were shocked to see that Kensuke had attracted a crowd. "…so in 1975, the American army got their asses handed to them by the Vietcong. And you know what sucks more? People died. I mean, totally, people died. War sucks. The Gulf War. It sucks. The Second Impact wars. They all sucked. This Eva fighting. It sucks," Kensuke said.

"Oh my god," Toji muttered to Shinji. "Kensuke's a frickin' hippie!"

"Kensuke, aren't the Evas fighting to save the world and stuff?" asked a boy in the class.

"That's what they're telling you! That's what _The Man_ is telling you! It's those big corporations, I'm telling you. Sure, it looks like we're fighting for the survival of mankind and everything, but look at those angels. They mean no harm. We could easily get along with them. It's the government that fights them, man. And because they are, the corporations are lining their pockets. It's all a big conspiracy, I'm telling you," Kensuke ranted.

"That makes you, what, a moron? You have it all wrong!" Asuka cried.

"Well, for your information, you're on the inside. _The Man_ has you under his thumb, girl! You don't know it, but they're using you," Kensuke pointed out.

"Who exactly is using me?" Asuka inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"The corporations! You're just a tool for them to spread their lies. And when this war with the angels is all over, the corporations will be richer and everyone else will be poorer!" Kensuke said.

"How exactly are they making money from this?" Asuka asked, getting slightly annoyed.

"You're in more of a position to know than me. All I know is that it is a big conspiracy. It was like JFK. Lee Harvey Ostwald didn't kill Kennedy, it was totally the CIA. And they blamed it on the Russians who blamed it on Oswald who got shot by Jack Ruby who was employed by the CIA to silence their scapegoat and who wasn't really in the Mafia. And Second Impact, that was a big conspiracy as well. They tell us a big meteorite hit Antarctica and stuff but if you look Antarctica is still actually there! This was an excuse for the corporations to start lots of wars and makes tonnes of money! The corporations are out to kill you and take your money. They have no morals. They just have fat wallets they want to make even fatter! And that's the truth I tell you, the truth!"

By that point, Shinji had enough of Kensuke's hippie ramblings and decided he was better the way he was. With a nod of Shinji's head, Kensuke returned to normal. At first, he was confused as to why there was a crowd surrounding him. However, he noticed Shinji and Toji standing at the doorway and got up. "Hey you two! Let me be an Eva pilot! Please! Shinji, ask Misato for me!" Kensuke said, waving his arms. The crowd that was listening to Kensuke was displeased by his sudden changed of tone.

"I thought he was anti-war."

"He had a few good ideas but went back on them."

"He ranted for ages and changed his mind so quickly."

"What a hypocrite."

"What a nerd."

"Nut-job."

"I guess these corporations are figments of his loony imagination."

"What a loser."

Shinji blew a sigh of relief, knowing that Kensuke was back to the normal military-obsessed nerd he had always been. A Hippie Kensuke was slightly too much to deal with. Shinji wasn't exactly one to say that he preferred things to be normal but some things were like they were for a reason and having them any other way would just be plain weird.

* * *

The phone rang in Gendo Ikari's office. It was a lone telephone on his desk, connected to one direct line only. It rang loudly, alerting the deputy commadner of NERV. Fuyutsuki went to answer it, annoyed that he was taken away from his newspaper. He picked up the handset and said, "Hello."

"This is SEELE," said the deep, dark voice over the other side of the line. "Put Gendo Ikari on the line. We need to speak to him."

"Gendo Ikari is on holiday," Fuyutsuki pointed out with a tired sigh.

"Oh," said the member of SEELE who was roped into calling NERV. "We'll, uh, call back later."

"Yeah, you do that," said a miffed Fuyutsuki. The deputy commander then proceeded to slamming the phone down before continuing to read his newspaper.

* * *

Gendo Ikari turned on his TV and checked what movies were being shown. The first of the movies was 'March of the Penguins'. For his sanity's sake, he switched the channel, only to find that the movie on that channel was 'Happy Feet'. He hastily changed channels to find that the movie on this one was 'Surf's Up'. Gendo then threw his remote straight through his TV and began to scream and writhe in mental agony. It was all too much for him. He began to feel that the penguins were out to get him.

* * *

Kaji was stood with his left hand is his pocket and his right hand clutching a watering can. At his feet was a quaint garden where he was growing melons. He quietly hummed a tune as the water gently sprinkled out onto his small harvest. It was satisfying for the man to have grown something and looked after it from when it was simply some seeds into something worthwhile. Nobody else except Kaji knew about this little spot in the Geofront. When Kaji wasn't double-crossing the people he was double-crossing, he would come out to his melon garden to continue to water and nurture it. "Melons are nice," Kaji noted to himself. "Although these aren't as fun as Misato's melons," he added with a chuckle.

As he continued to water, he heard an explosion way over in the centre of the Geofront, where NERV headquarters was located. It was in the roof of the Geofront, and Kaji knew immediately that they were under attack. However, this angel seemed to have moved much quicker and was more audacious that any other angel he had seen and it was the first angel to actually physically break into the Geofront. As his eyes locked on the angel, the water in his can ran out and only drips came out. Kaji looked down at the watering can, wondering if his water running out like it did was an omen of bad fortune to come.

* * *

"Angel! And it's in the Geofront!" cried Makoto Hyuga.

"Fire all rockets and guns! Buy the pilots some time to get out there!" Misato ordered. "Where are the pilots?!"

"Dr Akagi abandoned the synch test as soon as the angel appeared and the pilots are currently getting into their Evas," Shigeru Aoba reported.

"What's the status on our countermeasures?!" Misato asked.

"Firing, now!" Makoto exclaimed.

Kaji watched the rockets fly from launchers surrounding NERV headquarters and the 30mm cannon emplacements fire at the angel. He knew that it would be useless against the angel as it possessed an AT-Field and this angel appeared to have a very strong one. After twenty seconds of incessant rocket and 30mm cannon fire, smoke surrounded the angel. When it cleared, the angel was still unsurprisingly exactly where it stood previously, completely unfazed by what could only be deemed small arms fire.

Then, the angel seemed to prepare some sort of energy beam attack as there was a visible build-up of energy in front of it. Just before the angel could fire, Eva Unit 02 exploded out of one of the Geofront Eva launch sites and propelled itself towards the angel at high velocity. It knocked the angel back just in time and its energy beam was sent towards the roof of the Geofront.

"That energy beam just escaped out of the Geofront and destroyed a building up in Tokyo-3!" Makoto cried. "It's incredibly powerful!"

"Come on guys," Misato said quietly to herself. "I know you four can win. You can do it."

Unit 02 was soon joined by the three other Evangelion units, all posed to make an attack on the angel. "This is unfair," Asuka noted. "Four against one."

"It's just SOP," Shinji pointed out.

"I know it's SOP, but that doesn't make it any less unfair," Asuka said.

"Approach this one with caution," Misato said from HQ. "You just saw what it was capable of with its energy attack."

"Yes ma'am," Shinji said.

The teenaged God was sitting, trying to use his powers against the angels but nothing was happening. Divine intervention would have no place during this battle. Shinji gritted his teeth and prepared for the worst.

It was incredibly tense with the four Evas standing around the angel, neither seemingly wanting to make the first move. Inside HQ, Misato could barely summon the courage to breathe as the Evas shifted about slowly and tentatively, whilst the angel stood as still as a rock. Central Dogma was as quiet as a tomb.

Then, before any of the pilots could react, the angel shot its foil-like limbs out, straight towards Unit 02. Asuka could not have possibly and humanly reacted in time. The angel sliced through the red Evangelion's arms and was about to go for its head until Unit 01 stood in its path and caught the angel's appendages in its arms. As Unit 01 increased its grip on the angel's arms, the Evangelion drew blood from the palms of its hands.

Then, Shinji realised he was in for it. "Huge energy readings coming from the angel!" Makoto cried.

"SHINJI! WATCH OUT!" Misato cried.

The designated pilot of Unit 01 watched in horror as the angel began to charge up its energy beam before firing it straight at him. Shinji summoned all the strength he could and using his Godly powers to assist him, he forced out an AT-Field as a last ditch effort to protect himself. The energy beam didn't travel far to reach Unit 01, but when it did, the beam was deflected in several directions, leaving Shinji unharmed.

"I've never seen an AT-Field that strong, even from the angels!" Maya exclaimed.

"What?! How did he do that?" Ritsuko asked.

"I don't know! That AT-Field just appeared out of nowhere!" Maya replied, stunned at what Shinji just did.

Units 00 and 03 lunged for the angel with their prog knives drawn and poised to strike. However, in the space of less than a second, the angel pulled its arms free of Shinji's grasp, taking a few of Unit 01's fingers with them before sending its arms straight through both Unit 00 and Unit 03. The two Evas were sent flying back whilst the angel used its arms to eviscerate the Eva's insides. "Pilots Ayanami and Suzuhara have both ejected!" Shigeru reported.

"What about Asuka?" Misato asked.

"She's still inside Unit 02, but its gone silent," Shigeru replied.

"Force the ejection of her entry plug. She might be unconscious," Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am."

However, Asuka was not unconscious. She was in her entry plug with her head down and her arms clutching the handles inside of the plug. She felt like she had lost everything with the arms of Unit 02. "I can't believe it…I lost…so easily," she muttered. She tightened her grip on the handles, wanting her unresponsive Eva to move. She wanted to continue fighting. She wanted to win. She wanted to validate herself. However, there was no chance of that. As the tears began to flow from her eyes, her entry plug flew free of Evangelion Unit 02.

Shinji had felt a sharp pain in his hands when the angel broke free of his hold and now, he felt a strange numbness in several of his fingers. He watched in horror as the angel took out both Eva Units 00 and 03 brutally and efficiently. It was now just him and the angel and having just seen what the angel was capable of, it was not looking good. "Mother," Shinji whispered. "Please help me."

And at that moment, Shinji felt a surge of energy rush through his body. He felt newfound determination and set his Eva off towards the angel. It responded by shooting its arms out at him and Shinji managed to move out of the way. However, the angel struck again, and this time, it sliced Unit 01's left arm off cleanly. "ARRRGGHH!" Shinji screamed through a mix of adrenaline and pain as he smashed the angel hard with Unit 01's right fist. The angel couldn't summon an AT-Field in time and felt the full force of the blow, sending it flying backwards, away from NERV HQ.

Shinji then pulled out his prog knife and leapt up into the air towards the angel, ready to plunge his knife right into its core. The angel managed to quickly fire its energy beam at the fast approaching Unit 01 but missed, allowing Shinji to land right in of the angel. "TAKE THIS!!!" Shinji roared, sending the Prog Knife right into the angel's core. Shinji felt the angel go limp on the other side of his knife and as suddenly as the angel appeared, it was dead.

"Thank god," Misato managed to say. Everybody in Central Dogma blew a sigh of relief. Shinji had managed to pull through for them once more and despite the carnage the angel had caused, it was nothing they couldn't repair. "Send out the recovery teams. Get the pilots back into HQ ASAP," Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Makoto acknowledged. He was about to enter the orders into his computer terminal until he saw that something wasn't right. "Major!" he yelled. "The angel…it's still alive!"

"What?!" Misato cried in horror.

The angel's arms shot out and sliced off Unit 01's right leg off from the knee down before decapitating the purple Evangelion. "SHINJI!!!" Misato screamed. Everybody in Central Dogma watched in absolute horror as Unit 01 collapsed backward, its red blood spraying out of its neck and right leg. Then, its head slammed into the ground next to the annihilated body of Unit 01. "The pilot is showing no life signs," Makoto said in forlorn dismay.

"I guess…this is it," Ritsuko noted. "We've lost."

* * *

Shinji opened his eyes and found himself lying on a beach in the blistering sun. The waves were softly brushing against his feet. Shinji got himself up to a standing position and looked around, finding that nobody was there. It seemed that he was marooned on a tropical island where there was only a small cluster of palm trees making up the middle of the island. It wasn't much bigger than Misato's flat and Shinji couldn't see anything for miles around him except ocean.

"Hello Shinji," greeted God. Shinji snapped his head around to his right to see God just appear out of nowhere. It was then that a certain thought dawned on Shinji. "Am I dead?" Shinji asked.

God chuckled and said, "No, not quite."

"Then why am I here?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, I just wanted a chat, that's all Shinji," God answered.

Shinji looked out at the azure waters and wondered why he was saved from certain death just to have a chat with God. He looked back at the battle and wondered how he was so incapable of helping Asuka, Rei or Toji, despite having Godly powers. He couldn't even help himself. He had allowed the angel to slaughter his Eva.

"I know what you're thinking," God said, "and there is nothing you could have done about it."

"It doesn't feel that way," Shinji said. "I just feel like I've failed."

"You've done well to get where you are so far," God pointed out.

Shinji's eyes widened, "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember when I told you about the other forces that I created to go along with mankind?" God asked.

"Yeah, I think I do," Shinji said.

"Sometimes, these forces, fate, if you will, will try to make something happen because of the result of something else. You see when Asuka was trapped inside that angel? She was supposed to die, yet you still managed to save her. You beat fate," God explained. "And nobody has ever done that before."

"I…beat fate?" Shinji asked.

"Yes Shinji, that's right. And now, fate wants you and the rest of humanity to die," God said.

Shinji stood there, pondering God's words. And the more he thought about it, the tighter he clenched his fist. Why would these forces, or fate, want something like that to happen? "When you first saw me, all the angels were defeated, yet now, in this alternate timeline where I have all of God's powers; fate wants to kill me and humanity. Why? Why does that need to happen?" Shinji asked.

"This fate was sealed as soon as I gave you my powers, Shinji," God answered. "Things were going to be very different from how they would have turned out had you not recieved my powers, so these forces are trying to intervene."

"I thought you allowed humans to choose their own destiny," Shinji said.

"Humans can and do choose their own destiny. Fate only plays a small part in the lives of human beings." God pointed out. "However, this is slightly different. These forces are dealing with a God on earth. Your presence on Earth has made fate take action and by doing so, fate will destroy the human race."

"Is there anything I can do?" Shinji asked.

"Well, there is something I can do for you," God replied. "I can do one of two things. I can either send you back to where I had found you, on that beach just after you killed Kaworu with no memory of anything that happened here or I can send you back inside the brutalised body of Evangelion Unit 01 where you will battle against fate itself to try and once again defy those forces that are conspiring out to kill you."

Shinji was left with an incredibly difficult choice. He looked up and God and asked, "Why did you create these forces?"

"Why? Because it stops me from interfering with mankind's course. It allows mankind to go where it wants to go," God answered.

"Even it's a path to certain doom?" Shinji inquired.

"Yes, even if it is a path to certain doom," God said. "I intentionally limited my powers over mankind. It is because mankind is special."

God knelt down and picked up some of the white sand before letting it run through his fingers. However, it turned into water before returning back to the ground. "Shinji, are you familiar with some of the miracles depicted in the bible?" He asked.

"I guess," Shinji said.

"Moses parting the Red Sea. Jesus turning water in wine and emerging from the dead. Would you consider these miracles?" God inquired.

"Well…yeah, I guess so," Shinji answered.

"To be honest with you, Shinji, these miracales are simply words on a page. Stories from a fable. The real miracles happen all the time right here on earth," God explained.

"Real miracles?" Shinji asked.

"Like when a single mother works extra hours so she can afford to give her child an education. A man giving up one of his organs so that someone else, a complete stranger, can live. A couple of troubled fourteen year olds asked to perform one of the most difficult tasks in mankind's history and performing that task and defying the odds in order to survive and learn more about themselves to become better people. These, Shinji, are the real miracles. This is the reason mankind is special. This is the reason I do not and can not interfere."

Shinji was greatly moved by God's speech on mankind. Yet, one thing still got him. "There is still so much evil in the world, though," Shinji said. "Can't you do anything about that evil?"

"Another of mankind's miracles is its ability to triumph over evil," God said. "Despite all the evils in the world, I am confident that mankind will eventually triumph over evil."

"But what about the people who die because of evil?" Shinji asked.

"They all have a place in heaven, Shinji," God replied. "The people who are evil do not."

God looked out to the ocean and motioned to Shinji to look in that direction. "Over there is Tokyo-3, thousands of miles away. Over these is where either of your choices will take you. The question is, what is your choice?" God asked.

"I can't go back to before you gave me powers," Shinji said. "That would just be like…that would just be like running away. I mustn't run away. I have to go back to Eva Unit 01 and defeat the angel."

"You know if you're doing that, you're trying to do battle with fate itself," God pointed out.

"I know," Shinji said. "But I've done it before. Who's to say that I can't do it again?"

"You're taking a big risk," God said.

"Well, if I mess up," Shinji said, "then you'll have a lot of new people needing a place in heaven."

"That's one way of looking at it," God said with a chuckle. "But if you succeed, not only will you have defied fate, you will have saved mankind itself. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, as ready as I'll ever be," Shinji said.

"Good luck to you, Shinji. I hope it goes well for you."

"So do I," Shinji said with a smile.

* * *

"I guess…this is it," Ritsuko noted. "We've lost."

Everybody in Central Dogma watched the angel move over the decapitated and dismembered Unit 01 and approached NERV HQ itself. The feeling of bleak loss of hope ran through all of the staff inside Central Dogma. Misato couldn't help but feel that time seemed to go slow as the angel approached them. She knew that they had lost, despite giving it their all.

Then, Makoto cried, "Eva Unit 01 is moving!"

"What?!" Misato cried. "What about the pilot?!"

"No signs of life from the plug," Makoto said.

"Unit 01 is still incredibly damaged. It doesn't even have a head. It doesn't stand a chance, even if it is going berserker," Ritsuko said.

"Shinji, please don't do this to yourself," Misato pleaded quietly.

The angel stopped and turned around to face the body of Unit 01 shuddering on the ground. It deduced that the Eva was not completely dead and shot its arms out to try and finish the job. It was then, to the surprise to both the angel and everybody in Central Dogma, Unit 01 stuck its right arm out and caught the angel's arms and ripped them right off of the angel with ease. It then used the angel's limbs to regenerate its lost appendages and to grow and new head out of its body. The NERV staff watched in both amazement and horror and what Unit 01 was doing. And it was the second time that they had seen Unit 01 without its distinctive helmet.

The Eva stood up and roared up towards the roof of the Geofront, showing off its might to everyone around it. "Oh my god!" Maya cried. "Shinji…his life signs…he's alive!"

"He's definitely alive?" Misato asked.

"Yes, he is," Maya answered. "And he has a synch ratio of over 1000 percent."

"What the…" Misato said in stunned disbelief. Ritsuko was similarly shocked. That synch ratio was ten times more than what they though had been previously possible.

Unit 01 charged at the angel and its motion was very similar to that of an ape's, or a gorilla's. There was something so primal about the Evangelion that was beginning to scare the NERV staff. The angel fired its energy beam at the charging Eva. Unit 01 simply created and AT field which deflected the beam straight back at the angel. As the angel was struck by the sheer power of its own attack, Unit 01 leapt on top of the angel and began to pummel it with its fists, sending the angel's blood flying all over the ground of the Geofront. It was a horrific sight which was made much worse by what Unit 01 began to do next; it began to eat the angel.

"Dear god…" was all Misato could manage to say. Never before had she thought the Evas were capable of anything so brutal, so animal-like. She looked over to Ritsuko who looked just as horrified as she was. They both watched Unit 01 continue to ingest the angel and begin to break through its own armour. "No! It's breaking through the bindings!" Ritsuko cried.

"Bindings?" Misato asked.

"That isn't just armour around that Eva. It also constricts it and allows us to control it. Without the armour, the Eva is completely out of our control," Ritsuko explained.

Unit 01 then looked up from the decimated body of the angel before roaring and growling. Unit 01 had saved them all once again, yet they were now all terrified of it. It had become something out of a nightmare. It was a creature, not a weapon. And it was fast becoming a creature out of their control. "Unit 01 has finally awoken," Kaji noted from his little patch of garden. "The committee won't be very happy," he added with a chuckle.

Unit 01 roared and bellowed before suddenly going silent as it stood. There was a full ten seconds of silence in Central Dogma where they just stared at the still Evangelion. "Send out the recovery teams. The pilots have priority," Misato ordered. The technicians nodded while Misato looked at the motionless form of Unit 01. _What the hell are you? _Misato thought before looking over at Ritsuko. _And Dr Akagi, what aren't you telling me?

* * *

_

Shinji opened his eyes and this time, found himself inside NERV's hospital. He sat up and looked around and after feeling that nothing was wrong with him, he got up out of his bed and wondered out of his room. He didn't remember anything of the fight. The last thing he remembered were God's last words to him before he was sent back into this reality. That fact that he was still alive was proof that he had won his battle with the angel but how, he did not know.

Shinji went out and saw both Toji and Rei sitting in the waiting area. They both looked towards him and Toji smiled. "Looks like you did it, man," he said.

"Yeah," Shinji said. "I just don't know how." Toji didn't have anything to say to Shinji after he said that. Toji had witnessed the brutality of Unit 01 firsthand and so did Rei. Toji was somewhat relieved to know that it had not been Shinji at the controls when that was happening but what Unit 01 had done was hard to ignore.

"Are you two okay?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, we're both fine," Toji replied. "We got our asses kicked by that angel, but we're fine."

"That's good to hear," Shinji said. "Where's Asuka?"

"She's in the ward next to yours," Toji said. "She's not in a good way."

"Is she hurt?" Shinji asked worriedly.

"No, she's not hurt, but she's not like she usually is," Toji pointed out. "You should go and see her."

"I will do," Shinji said. "Thanks man."

"We should be saying thanks. We all owe you one for beating the angel," Toji said.

Shinji headed off to Asuka's ward and found that she was sitting up, staring out of her window. She then turned to face him and said nothing, only looking at Shinji. He approached her and stood by her bed. No words were exchanged; they simply looked at each other. Shinji didn't know what to say. He wanted to speak but the words just weren't there. All of a sudden, Asuka wrapped her arms around Shinji and for the first time in many years, Asuka began to cry. As she did, she began to feel relief. Instead of hating herself for crying, she felt that any past inhibitions she had about herself were going with her tears. She was glad that Shinji was there. He really meant it when he said that he would always be with her and Asuka felt that her tears would pave the way for more happiness with Shinji by her side.

* * *

Gendo Ikari cut his two week holiday down to one day having spent the day off of work being mentally tormented by penguins. He gave every penguin he walked past through NERV and evil glare to which the penguins responded with indifference. Gendo just wished that the penguins would be moved to their new habitat that they were constructing within NERV. The sooner, the better.

He arrived at his office and found Fuyutsuki sitting behind his desk, reading 'New Scientist'. "You're back early," Fuyutsuki noted.

"I decided that I did not need a holiday nor had any reasons to justify it," Gendo said. "What has happened while I was away?"

"Quite a lot actually," Fuyutsuki said. "Another angel attacked and Unit 01 defeated it before proceeding to eating the S2 organ and becoming like a living God."

"WHAT?!" Gendo cried. "I STAYED AT HOME TO MISS THAT??!!"

"It's okay. We have video highlights," Fuyutsuki pointed out.

"ARGH!!!" Gendo yelled regardless. "I STAY AT HOME, FIND THAT EVERYTHING ON TV IS ABOUT DAMN PENGUINS, ONLY TO DISCOVER I HAVE MISSED ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN OUR PLAN!!!"

"Is that all?" Fuyutsuki asked with a hint of wryness.

"I'm going to kill some penguins, and then I'm going to get very drunk," Gendo muttered.

"Can't kill the penguins," Fuyutsuki said. "UN Animal Protection laws."

Gendo felt ready to explode. "I…I…ARGH! Screw it! I'll just get drunk then!" he screamed before storming out of the room.

"Fine, whatever," Fuyutsuki said before returning to his 'New Scientist', reading an interesting article about anti-matter manipulation. At that moment, a penguin entered the office and squawked at the deputy commander. Fuyutsuki looked up at the penguin and said, "Yes, I know. Gendo is crazy."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

**Author's Note:** A thousand apologies for taking so long to update this story. I've kind of been off writing for the past couple of weeks. Hopefully, I can get back to a chapter a week and get this one wrapped up. Again, you have my sincerest apologies!

* * *

"This isn't good," Fuyutsuki muttered in the head office of NERV. There were penguins all around the office and the habitat that they were constructing for them was sorely behind schedule, leaving all the penguins continued freedom to roam all around NERV HQ. And that was the smallest of his problems. The intelligence section was still on strike, demanding the penguins be removed from their offices for a start. Recently, one smart member of the intelligence section also demanded that they get a pay rise for good measure. Fuyutsuki groaned as he looked over the demands that the intelligence section had made on the piece of paper in front of him. And again, it wasn't the worst of his problems.

Commander Ikari had to be forcibly removed from NERV HQ by armed guards and literally ordered at gunpoint by Dr Akagi to use the rest of his allotted two weeks holiday time to avoid him having a mental breakdown every time he saw a penguin. However, nobody trusted the commander to do so on his own so Ritsuko ordered that he would be watched 24-7 by an armed task force, just to make sure he didn't go anywhere near NERV HQ or the Tokyo-3 Zoo until his two weeks were over. He was literally under house arrest, although nobody was quite sure what the terms of the arrest were.

This itself wasn't really a problem for Fuyutsuki. However, the fact that the absence of the commander gave Fuyutsuki an impromptu temporary promotion which meant he would be responsible for answering to SEELE and everyone else for the rest of the Commander's holiday period. With Fuyutsuki temporarily in charge of NERV, a fear that all the stresses that made Gendo break down would affect Fuyutsuki began to sink in and the deputy commander was very on edge, watching out for things that would make him feel on edge. This was the mighty catch-22 of his situation; in order to stress and nervous breakdown, he was always vigilant of the causes of stress which in turn caused more stressed which would inadvertently lead to a nervous breakdown.

"Well," Fuyutsuki muttered once more, "at least it can't get any worse." However, things can and will always get worse given any opportunity. So while Fuyutsuki was complacent in his assumption that things would stay as they were, Ryoji Kaji walked into his office with some rope slung around his shoulder. "Good afternoon, commander," he said with his ever present smug grin.

"Kaji, what are you doing here?" Fuyutsuki asked nonchalantly. It never occurred to him what the rope could have been used for.

Kaji took the cigarette he had been smoking out of his mouth and tossed it to one side. He then reached in his trouser pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and a small vile containing a clear liquid. "Well, if you want me to be frank, commander," Kaji said before pouring the liquid onto his handkerchief and covering Fuyutsuki's mouth with it. "I'm kidnapping you." And as the chloroform fumes slowly sapped Fuyutsuki's consciousness away from him, he suddenly realised that this was probably now the worst of his problems.

Kaji retained his smug smile as he lit another cigarette after making sure the deputy commander was out for the count and began work on tying him up. Kaji's quest for the truth was quickly reaching a climax and he was sure that his doings would lead to either NERV or SEELE taking some sort of affirmative action against him. This would probably be his last ever assignment. As he grabbed the deputy commander and sauntered his way out of NERV headquarters, he began to ponder his life up until now and everything he had been through. He remembered Second Impact and how he was immediately suspicious when he was told that it was caused by an asteroid. His suspicions then turned into a desire for the truth and he joined NERV to get closer to that truth. He learned that Second Impact was caused by contact with an angel but again, wasn't satisfied with that answer. He continued to scour NERV and eventually SEELE for any titbit of information that would lead him closer to that ever elusive truth about Second Impact, NERV, SEELE and the Evangelion Units.

Then, he fondly remembered his days where he met Misato and the time they had spent together. He chuckled when remembering when they had first started dating and the excessive sex they had that had resulted. They were young and foolish and he guessed that added to how randy the two of them had been. Recently, their relationship had begun to flourish again and Kaji wondered how Misato would take it after she discovered that he was dead. Kaji assumed that death was the only probably outcome of this audacious attempt at finding the truth. He hadn't told Misato anything about it. He hoped that after he was gone, Misato would take up the baton and continue to search for the real truth, the one that had been so well hidden from them for so long.

* * *

Shinji stared outside his bedroom window and wondered what the new day would bring into his very interesting life. It had been just over a day since the last battle with an angel and Shinji was slowly coming to the terms that he would have died had it not been for a little encouragement from God himself. Ever since becoming a teenage god, Shinji's mortality wasn't high up in his list of priorities. However, the sense of invincibility was shaken and it was hard not to worry about the next time he stepped inside Eva Unit 01 and what could happen to him or any of the other pilots. Shinji had seen the limitations of his powers far too many times for comfort.

In the hours past the battle, Shinji had spent his time with Asuka, trying to help her with a worrying confidence issue that seemed to be creeping up within her. It was sadly ironic that Asuka's confidence was the thing that was worst affected by the previous battle. She was badly shaken by it all and had literally clung to Shinji in the immediate aftermath, trying to figure out why she had to be the one so brutally put down in battle. However, she eventually saw that she wasn't alone. She heard the reports about how every Eva Unit involved was systematically defeated with ease by the angel which gave NERV incredible worries about the capabilities of angels they might encounter in the future. Shinji wasn't worried about angels though. It was a problem much closer to heart but no nearer to his comprehension.

He stepped outside of his room and headed towards the door of Asuka's room, holding his hand out to knock. However, he was caught by apprehension and became uncertain of whether he should knock the door or not. Asuka might not be in the mood to see him. Shinji might not have anything worthwhile to say to the girl. He could just walk into her room and say nothing at all, leaving the girl to think less of him. Despite all of his anxieties, Shinji didn't knock and walked straight in, finding the girl sat on her bed with her back up against the wall. She turned her head slowly away from her window and faced Shinji. "Hey Asuka," the boy managed to say weakly.

"Hey," Asuka said. "You're…you're up early."

"I know," Shinji said with a nod of his head. "So are you."

"I know," Asuka said.

Shinji approached the bed and sat beside the girl to her right. He then placed his left arms around her shoulders whilst she rested her head on the boy's chest. "Shinji," Asuka whispered. "Do you…do you really feel…that way about me?"

"Of course I do," Shinji answered. "Why would you think any different?"

"I don't know…if you knew what I was really like…maybe you would think differently…" Asuka said.

Shinji suddenly jumped up off of the bed and said, "Whoa, hey, hang on! This is getting far too sappy for my liking! I've seen this story way too many times before! Asuka, get changed into something nice," Shinji said.

"Why?" she asked, suddenly surprised that the expected plot arc hadn't been taken.

"Because we are going out! We're going to have fun and I'm going to make sure that there is a massive smile on that face of yours! Come on, get ready!" Shinji said.

"Uh, you know how long it takes for a girl to properly get ready?" Asuka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's okay. I can wait," Shinji said.

"I don't even know what to wear," Asuka mused.

"Surprise me," Shinji said with a grin.

While Asuka was getting ready, a female ritual of some sorts as far as Shinji's understanding went, he stood on the balcony and spoke to Pen-Pen. Obviously, it was mainly a one sided conversation, with Pen-Pen responding only in his penguin noises. However, talking to a pet was more soothing and reassuring than talking to a person. Well, that was if you had something of importance to talk about. Shinji was just making small talk with the penguin.

"Nice weather today, huh?" Shinji inquired.

"Wark," the penguin responded.

"You said it. Where do you think I should take Asuka out today?" Shinji asked.

"Wark, wark," the penguin replied.

"Well, yeah, shopping is an obvious choice but where else?"

"Wark, wark…wark, wark."

"A fancy restaurant for dinner? I like it. Thanks a lot, Pen-Pen."

"You're welcome," the penguin replied.

"AAAAH!" Shinji cried, jumping about a foot backwards into the air.

"Haha, got you," said God, who was standing behind Shinji.

"Jeez! You scared the hell out of me!" Shinji said, struggling to control his breathing.

"That's good," God chuckled.

"Very funny," Shinji said.

It hadn't really dawned on Shinji until now how casual his relationship with God was. You wouldn't really expect to speak the way Shinji usually did to an omnipotent being. "How are things?" God inquired.

"Uh, things are fine," Shinji replied. "I was just about to go out with Asuka. Just waiting for her to get ready."

"A date, huh?" God chuckled.

"Kind of. I think we just need to enjoy ourselves, the two of us, especially with what had happened recently," Shinji said.

"The angel battle?"

"Yeah. It was far too close for comfort, and Asuka was badly shaken."

"I would think so, considering all of you came within an inch of death," God said. "Which reminds me, Shinji, because you have all of my powers, you can't actually die."

"I can't die?!" Shinji said incredulously. "Thanks for the heads-up on that. I was just fearing for my mortality all morning."

"That's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes," God pointed out.

"That's the way the cookie crumbles?" Shinji inquired with a confused look on his face. "I'm sure I've heard that from somewhere before, maybe on TV."

"It's a line I quite like from a man I know called Bruce Nolan. He's a reporter for CNN now," God explained.

"That's where I heard it; on CNN," Shinji said, clicking his fingers at the realisation.

"There you have it then," God said with a grin. "Anyway, I've got to get back to Thailand. Have fun on your date."

"Okay, sure. See you," Shinji said with a wave of his hand.

As God disappeared, Asuka emerged from her room. "Shinji, were you talking to Pen-Pen?" she asked in a befuddled tone. Shinji looked down at the penguin and the penguin looked up at him, both of them with very similar expressions. They then both looked up at Asuka before Shinji answered, "Uh…no."

Asuka cocked her eyebrow and said a very long and held out, "Right…"

Shinji smiled sheepishly before looking at what Asuka had to wear and immediately becoming dumbstruck by how hot he found her. "Asuka…you are looking fine," he said.

The girl blushed and said, "You think?" She twirled around and her white skirt rose up slightly into the air as she did. Along with that, she was wearing a top that was a soft pink and the combination of the two very much appealed to Shinji. "Yes, I do think," Shinji said with a smile. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I guess," Asuka said. Shinji then took Asuka by the arm and the two left the flat together, heading off for a big day out together.

* * *

Misato was behind her desk, looking over some paperwork while a penguin observed from Misato's right. She didn't mind the presence of the penguins. In fact, they seemed to make her feel more at ease. Maybe it was just the way that they waddled about and the way that they would look at her which made Misato just smile. She almost wished that they didn't finish the artificial habitat that they were building for the Emperor Penguins that made NERV their new home.

Misato heard loud clicks that were the distinctive sound of heels striking the ground approach her. She looked up and saw none other than Dr Ritsuko Akagi head up to her desk. She held some paper in her hands and looked very much like she was in her official capacity. "I'm just here to tell you the breaking news," she said.

"Breaking news?" Misato asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah. Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki has been kidnapped," Ritsuko replied.

"WHAT?!" Misato cried. "What the hell are intelligence doing about it?!"

"Nothing," Ritsuko answered nonchalantly. "They're all on strike, remember?"

"Jeez. So nothing's getting done about it?" Misato asked.

"That's right. Also, because Kaji is the main suspect, you're meant to be detained because of your connection to him," Ritsuko added.

"But intelligence are on strike, so nobody's coming to arrest me," Misato noted.

"Correct. And even if intelligence were on strike, they couldn't arrest you," Ritsuko pointed out.

"What do you mean?"

"The chain of command. Commander Ikari is on leave and Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki has been kidnapped. Next in the command chain is you. You're now the commander of NERV for the time being," Ritsuko explained.

"WHAT??!!"

Many penguins turned their heads to face the source of the loud cry. Misato was stood up behind her desk from her outburst. She was stunned and utterly shocked at the news Ritsuko had brought. Surely there was no way that Misato was commander of NERV? "I though you were higher up in the command chain than me," Misato said.

"So did I, but then I found the loophole in the system. I'm part of the science division which has no authority over the military units of NERV. You fall under the military units of NERV and because of your position; you are therefore the next in the chain of command." Ritsuko said.

"That's absolutely spineless, Ritsuko, worming yourself out of having to command NERV using a bureaucratic loophole," Misato seethed.

"Better you than me. I don't want the responsibility and besides, I figured you would like the extra power," Ritsuko reasoned.

"Then you figured wrong Ritsuko," Misato sighed before collapsing back into her seat. "God, I can't believe this!"

"Well, NERV is all yours for the time being until either commander shows face," Ritsuko said, turning away.

"Wait a sec! Did you say Kaji was the main suspect earlier?" Misato asked.

"Yeah, but it's not as if anything will happen. Like I said, intelligence are on strike hence why there is absolutely nothing we can do about it," Ritsuko said. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it, commander." Misato growled as Ritsuko left, leaving the purple-haired woman in charge of the UN Special Organisation NERV.

* * *

Fuyutsuki's consciousness slowly returned to him as he raised his head from its original slumped position. His vision was blurry to begin with but it slowly cleared, showing the deputy commander of NERV that he was in a pitch black room with a lone light shone over him. His hands were tied behind his back and to the seat that he was confined to. He felt slightly nauseous from the chloroform and was incredibly bewildered from waking up in a place he didn't know and being held captive against his will. Slowly, his memory returned to him and he remembered that Kaji was the one responsible for his kidnapping. Fuyutsuki tried to scan his surroundings to see if there was any sign of Kaji but there was only darkness around him.

"Welcome Professor Fuyutsuki," said the unmistakable voice of SEELE 1, Keel Lorenz. Fuyutsuki looked up in front of him and saw thirteen black monoliths appear in front of him. He felt very much like he was being offered to SEELE as some sort of goodwill gift or sacrifice. "Professor, huh," Fuyutsuki chuckled. "I haven't gone by that name in a long time."

"And that would be the doing of Ikari, would it not?" SEELE 5 asked.

"I would prefer it if you would just get to the point," Fuyutsuki muttered tersely.

"You are in no position to make demands, professor," SEELE 1 said. "You are our captive. You shall answer to us."

"All right…shoot," Fuyutsuki said.

"Why was Evangelion Unit 01 allowed to consume an S2 engine?" SEELE 3 inquired.

"And why weren't you keeping these pilots and their Evas on a tighter leash?" SEELE 6 added.

"And also, last question; is it true that Commander Ikari is growing phobic of penguins?" SEELE 12 finished. Fuyutsuki's eyes went wide before he dropped his head, letting out a loud, exasperated sigh. "This is going to be a long day," he muttered.

And it was. Right into the twentieth hour of his interrogation, Fuyutsuki felt ready to throw himself in front of a bus, train or other fast moving object of considerable mass. "So, Commander Ikari isn't afraid of penguins, he just has an immense disliking of them?" SEELE 7 asked for what had to be the hundredth time.

"Like I said before, yes," Fuyutsuki nearly spat.

"We shall consider your answer and determine whether it is useful to us or not," SEELE 1 said before disappearing.

Fuyutsuki's head dropped again and he sighed once more. SEELE had only managed to ask three questions, asking each one twice, in the space of twenty hours. They asked a simple question, Fuyutsuki gave a simple answer, which was then followed by SEELE disappearing away for several hours to decide whether they could make something of Fuyutsuki's answer. It had become incredibly weary for the deputy commander and he spent most of his time remembering the past like the time just after Second Impact, meeting Yui Ikari, meeting Gendo Rokobungi as he was known then, discovering the truth about Second Impact and that GEHIRN and SEELE had many dark secrets to hide. He was prepared to even go as far as to try and reveal the secrets they held to the world but in the end, he would have just 'disappeared' by the will of SEELE had he done so. Seeing the squabbling committee nature of SEELE accentuated during his period of captivity, Fuyutsuki wondered if SEELE would have actually gotten anything done had Fuyutsuki revealed the truth all those years ago.

Probably not. He let out a sigh and tried to fall asleep, which was made difficult because of his sitting position and the fact that every time he nearly reached sleep, SEELE would return and snap him back awake, much to the deputy commander's frustration. However, it didn't stop him trying. As he sat there with his head slumped down, his thoughts turned to Yui Ikari and how she somehow got into a relationship with Gendo, a man that Fuyutsuki himself had just bailed out of jail. When he had heard that they had gotten married, it was just after Second Impact and the news of their marriage shocked Fuyutsuki more than the disaster that killed billions. He was even more surprised to hear that they had a child. It had been too much for the old professor. Naturally, he expected Gendo to abandon Shinji the way he did, but he never expected Gendo to have a nervous breakdown like the one he recently had.

Fuyutsuki's thoughts wondered and as they did, sleep began to overcome him and he had a slight feeling of gratitude that sleep was coming to him so quickly. However, before he could completely nod off, he felt the rope around his wrists loosen and the rope that tied him to the chair he sat on loosen as well. Fuyutsuki growled in annoyance and looked behind him to see who had prevented him from achieving sleep. Ironically, it was none other than Kaji, the man who had also kidnapped him as well. "I hope your time here hasn't been too uncomfortable, Commander," Kaji said with a chuckle.

"Nothing unbearable," Fuyutsuki replied. "You know that they will probably take your life for this."

"Yeah, I know," Kaji said. "But I'm closer to the truth than I ever was before."

"The truth is never close when you're dead," the deputy commander of NERV.

"I'll take my chances," Kaji said before leading the professor away from the clutches of SEELE who would get very annoyed because of the disappearance of their captive.

* * *

After freeing the deputy commander, Kaji set off back to NERV and found himself in an old room where a large fan circulated musty air inside. Kaji didn't mind though. At this point, all he wished was that Misato had received the voicemail message he left her and that she would find that capsule that he had made for her. If she did, then Kaji would be happy in what he was sure were his last moments. He stood rigid with his hand in his pocket, staring out at the artificial light of the Geofront fade much like a sunset.

Kaji heard footsteps from behind him and knew that his time had come. He turned to face his assassin and said, "You're a bit late, aren't you?" He expected the next thing that he would hear to be a gunshot and he also expected it to be the last thing that he would ever hear. However, there was no gunshot. Instead, he felt a body collapse and the sound of glass hitting the ground. Curious, Kaji moved forward to investigate. What he saw surprised him and very much amused him at the same time. His assassin was unconscious on the ground while clutching an empty bottle of vodka in his hands. For some unfathomable reason, this hit-man had gotten so drunk as to be rendered out cold by the booze. Kaji chuckled. He probably couldn't handle a whole bottle of vodka and if he could, he would probably end up in the same state of the guy in front of him. Kaji placed both his hands in his pockets, kicked the gun away from his would be assailant and walked off scot-free, wondering how this happened.

* * *

Shinji knew how it happened. He had used his 'influence' on the assassin and provided him with some cheap, vile, volatile and extremely potent vodka to drink on his way to kill Kaji. The catch was that as soon as the assassin had reached Kaji, he would be so drunk he couldn't see. Shinji was in a cinema watching a romantic comedy with his arm around Asuka's shoulder. He smiled at granting Kaji his life and thought, _Well Kaji; it looks like you owe me one_.

* * *

"Hey Misato," Ritsuko greeted.

"Hello," said Misato who was slightly preoccupied. She had used her powers as commander to have the penguin habitat completed and she was overseeing the last and probably most critical part; the placing of the penguins in the habitat. She was wearing a thick coat because the temperatures inside the habitat were well below freezing, just to make the Emperor Penguins feel right at home. "Looks good," Ritsuko said with a smile.

"I thought I might as well do something constructive," Misato said. "It helps everyone because it gets the penguins out of wondering around HQ and it gives the penguins a home."

"I couldn't agree more," Ritsuko said. "By the way, the deputy commander has returned."

"Really? Is he all right?" Misato inquired.

"Yes, he's fine, although I couldn't really find out more because he fell asleep at his desk," Ritsuko pointed out.

"I wouldn't react like that had I just escaped from being kidnapped," Misato said.

"He didn't escape. He was freed by the person who kidnapped him, as far as I am aware," Ritsuko explained.

"And that was?"

"Kaji."

"Oh."

Misato's expression quickly changed to one of worry. "And in case you're wondering," Ritsuko added, "yes, Kaji would have to be eliminated for that, probably by SEELE. The thing is, I saw him walking around earlier. That must mean that nobody wants him dead. That's surprising, considering SEELE love to have people killed given the smallest excuse."

"So Kaji's not dead?" Misato asked, relief overcoming her.

"Why would I be dead?" inquired the man himself.

"Ah! Kaji!" Misato said. "It's…uh…nice to see you."

"Nice to see you too babe," the man said with a smile. "What's with the awkward air? Is it about the kidnapping of the deputy commander?"

"Um…yeah," Misato said. "You're kind of wanted by both NERV and SEELE at the moment."

"Well, I had a chat with Fuyutsuki about the whole kidnapping thing. No hard feelings. And also, they did send someone to kill me. That person just happened to be so drunk they couldn't stay conscious. That leads me to the conclusion that nobody actually wants me dead."

Misato raised her eyebrow, causing Kaji to smile uneasily. "Uh…well, I'll lay low for a bit if it'll make you feel better, babe," he said.

"That's better," Misato said, moving forward to hug the convicted deputy commander kidnapper. Misato noticed that Ritsuko was standing back with a smirk on her face. "What's up, Ritsu?" Misato inquired.

"Oh, nothing," the blonde replied. "Just reminds me of old times; minus the kidnappings and assassination attempts."

"Yeah," Misato chuckled. "I guess so."

* * *

Many weeks had past and Shinji found himself in a situation where Asuka was the last person he wanted to see. As far as he was aware, it was something that was prevalent in adolescent teenage girls and was something called PMT. He didn't know what PMT stood for but it made Asuka cranky as hell one minute, a darling angel the next and then an über bitch all over again. It was too much for Shinji who found himself locked inside his room, listening to his SDAT, trying to relax but finding that he only became more tense.

"Uh, Shinji…I'm heading off to NERV…I understand if you don't want to go with me just now with my PMT and everything…bye…love you…" Asuka said through the door before Shinji heard the front door open and close. It was incredibly strange because just several minutes ago she was about to throw a table at him and now she was apologetic and sad. He could imagine the puppy eyes she would have made as she spoke to him through the barrier that was his bedroom door. Shinji stood up and got changed, knowing that he had to be at NERV as well.

Shinji tried to catch up with the redhead but she had just caught the train which had left just as Shinji arrived. He sighed in annoyance and sat down himself down on a bench. It was the only free seat and Shinji didn't mind that there was already a man sitting down on the seat, reading a newspaper. "Shinji Ikari, right?" the man asked, dropping down the newspaper, revealing himself to be Jack Nicholson, or so Shinji thought.

"Uh…yeah, that's me," Shinji said.

"I'm Lucifer, proprietor of the Eternal Rehabilitation Centre, or Hell as you guys on Earth like to call it," he said, extending his hand.

Shinji remembered the archangels telling him that Lucifer, or the Devil, resembled Jack Nicholson and hence looked slightly psycho. Shinji shook hands with the devil uneasily, wondering if this man was really the most evil thing in existence. "So, how about it, feel like selling your soul to me?" Lucifer inquired.

"Ah…"

"Only kidding! Haha, it gets 'em every time," Lucifer said with a chuckle. "I've got no use for your soul. Although I could try and sell it on eBay…"

"eBay?"

"You wouldn't imagine the junk I sell on eBay," Lucifer chided.

Shinji's curiosity was like a bubble about to burst at this point. "And in case you're wondering, no, I'm not the evil overlord person. I just look after Hell. God and I are the best of pals, I tell ya. I'm just misunderstood, that's all," Lucifer explained.

"Misunderstood?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, that's it. I'm just like a prison warden, whereas God is like the manager of a five star hotel," Lucifer reiterated.

"I see," Shinji said with a nod of his head. "So, what brings you to Earth?"

"Well, I was wanting to go on holiday, and I was wondering whether your girlfriend would take over as Devil for me."

"WHAT?!"

"Got you again," Lucifer chuckled. "I thought I would use your girlfriend's not so affectionate nickname there."

"Very funny," Shinji said. "Is it just me or are all you eternal beings just pranksters at heart?"

"When you have jobs that are as important as ours, you tend not to leave the sense of humour at home," Lucifer said. "Anyway, joking aside, I'm here because I'm feeling bad vibes in the air."

"Bad vibes?"

"Yeah, like something bad is going to happen, real soon as well," Lucifer said. "And I think it involves your girl."

"Asuka?" Shinji asked with a worried look quickly appearing on his face.

"I think so," Lucifer said. "But hey, you've got all of God's power so really, you have nothing to worry about, right?"

"Maybe," Shinji said.

"It'll be fine," Lucifer said. "By the way, this info isn't free."

"Really...? Uh, how much will it be?"

"Your soul," Lucifer replied as-a-matter-of-fact.

"You're kidding, right?" Shinji asked.

"You're catching on kid," Lucifer said with a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have places to be and people to see."

And as suddenly as Lucifer introduced himself to Shinji, he was gone and the train Shinji needed to catch was fast approaching. He wondered about Lucifer's warning, and whether Asuka was in danger.

* * *

Asuka stood in front of the mirror and felt horrible. She couldn't find any words that weren't profanities to describe what she was currently going through. "Adolescence sucks," she muttered as she ran water over her face for the fifteenth time. She was incredibly annoyed at herself at the moment for seemingly keeping Shinji at a distance due to her erratic behaviour. Maybe she wasn't to blame, but it was annoying nonetheless. She splashed water over her face once more before emerging out of the women's toilets.

NERV was pretty much back to normal from what Asuka had observed on her way in. There were no more penguins as they were all now in their artificial habitat. Commander Ikari had returned from his holiday and he seemed as cold and stoic as he always was. The intelligence section strike remained unresolved so the Commander had them all fired and replaced by a new intelligence section altogether. It left many unhappy intelligence agents but Gendo didn't care. He also no longer feared the sight of penguins, or appeared to no longer fear them. He was apparently back to his hardliner self and Asuka wasn't surprised when she found out that he had fired the entire intelligence section. She walked through the metallic corridors of NERV HQ and headed towards the nearest elevator to get her to where she needed to be. When the door opened, she saw Rei Ayanami standing inside. Normally, she wouldn't have minded but she stepped in cautiously, knowing that her mood swings were at their most potent when she was in situations she would rather avoid. Rei wasn't a bad person; Asuka just held some strange disdain for her.

"Hello Wondergirl," Asuka greeted as amiably as possible as she entered the elevator.

"Greetings," Rei replied. And from that point on, Asuka knew that there would be an uneasy silence that neither of them would appreciate. Well, Asuka wouldn't appreciate it. Rei was so enigmatic as to defy understanding. "So, uh, nice weather today, huh?" Asuka asked nervously.

"It is hot as it usually is," Rei pointed out. "I don't find the heat too pleasant, to be honest."

"Yeah," Asuka said. "I'm used to temperate climates, you know, having lived in Germany and everything."

"Germany?" Rei asked. "The country centrally located in Europe bordered by France, Switzerland, Italy and Poland?"

"That's the one," Asuka said.

"And you are German?" Rei further inquired.

"Well, I consider myself German. I thought you knew that I was from Germany," Asuka said.

"I don't usually desire to know these things," Rei answered.

"Well, it's always good to know," Asuka said. "I could tell you what it was like living in Germany."

"Go on," Rei said. Asuka couldn't believe it. She managed to strike up an actual conversation with Rei Ayanami by using the weather as an opener. Asuka had seen some weird things during her time here at NERV and this ranked up right up there with the weirdest.

As their conversation got deeper, the elevator ride finished and the alarms began blaring all throughout NERV HQ, signifying that there was an angel inbound, looking to wipe out humanity like the rest of them had tried to do so before. Asuka sighed, having to end a surprisingly good conversation with Rei and heading off to her Evangelion to engage this new angel.

* * *

"Angel is currently out of range. And not just out of range. It is totally and utterly beyond our range," Makoto said, making sure that he got his point across. "Nice of the angel to place itself in orbit so that we can't reach it."

"The positron rifle?" Misato inquired.

"Not a chance. You would need all the power in Japan and then some to get it out of the gravitational field of the Earth and still have enough energy to kill the angel," Makoto said. "Well, that's what I think."

"I think Hyuga's right," Ritsuko said. "At this present moment, there is really nothing we can do."

"Which is just fine and dandy," Misato muttered.

It was the usual scene during an angel attack. Misato was stood up with the three main technicians behind their terminals whilst Commander Ikari and Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki watched from up above them. Gendo was in his usual badass pose and he seemed more badass than ever. However, unknown to all, he still had his strange phobia of all things penguin related and his two weeks off just gave him time to practice hiding it. "Are the Evas in position?" Gendo inquired.

"Yes sir. Eva Units 00, 02 and 03 are out in defensive positions. Unit 01 is still in the cage," Misato reported.

"Yeah dad thanks for that," Shinji muttered.

"Silence, Pilot Ikari," Gendo ordered.

"Penguins," Shinji added in annoyance.

Gendo physically shuddered at the very utterance of the word which was cause for concern for the deputy commander. "Penguins?" Misato asked in confusion. There was a dull thud from up where the commanders were perched. Unbeknownst to everyone, Gendo had collapsed off his seat in fear and had to be assisted up by Fuyutsuki. Misato, Ritsuko and the three technicians and everyone in Central Dogma for that. "It's okay! Nothing wrong here," Fuyutsuki lied.

"Uh…okay," Misato said. "Now, back to the tense standoff where all our attention really should be focused."

"Yeah, that," Ritsuko said, turning around.

At that moment, the entire atmosphere changed from weird to hectic as the angel launched its attack and by some cruel twist of fate, it was again Unit 02 which bore the brunt of the attack. Except this time, it was much more cynical then a simple attack. This time, the angel was trying to invade the mind of the Eva's pilot which in this case was one Asuka Langley Sorhyu. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" she screamed. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!"

"Shit! What's happening to Asuka?!" Toji cried.

"Permission to engage," Rei said.

"Target is still way out of range!" Misato said. "But give it a shot anyway! Ritsuko, I need to know what's happening to Asuka and I need to know NOW!"

"Working on it!" Ritsuko said.

"Asuka! Get out of there! MOVE IT!" Misato ordered.

"I…I'm trying…argh! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" Asuka yelled.

"She's losing control of her Eva!" Maya cried.

"Her synchro graph is all over the place!" Shigeru added.

"Mental contamination detected!" Makoto exclaimed.

"Mental contamination? What the hell is this angel doing to Asuka?!" Misato demanded.

"It's some sort of AT Field! It's allowing the angel to get into Asuka's mind!" Ritsuko cried.

"Into her mind?! That angel is violating the integrity of Asuka's mind?!" Misato raged.

"Almost like a mind rape," Ritsuko said in horror. "And we can't do anything about it."

Shinji was sat, simply left to watch as Toji and Rei tried to fire at the angel with no result. They couldn't try to get Asuka out of the beam either because that meant putting more Evas at risk. It was literally hopeless. Shinji sat there, trying everything in his power and beyond to try and stop the angel's attack but nothing was working. As the screams from his girlfriend got louder, the pain Shinji felt in his mind grew as well. He couldn't bear to see and hear her in the state she was in and he couldn't stand being so helpless to do anything. His powers weren't working because fate had once again intervened. The angel was invading Asuka's mind and by doing so, was hurting of piece of Shinji's mind.

Then, an idea struck Shinji. The teenage god closed his eyes and tried to find his way into the mind of Asuka Langley Sorhyu. This seemed like the only way possible that Shinji could help. At first, it seemed like it wasn't working as Shinji kept opening his eyes to find himself inside the entry plug of Evangelion Unit 01 but he kept trying and eventually, he opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by nothing but black. Suddenly, hooded figures appeared everywhere and he heard the cries of a girl off in the distance.

"Asuka!" Shinji cried. "Where are you?!" Shinji shoved his way into the crowd and moved towards the source of the girl's cries. However, the more he pushed through, the more it seemed like these hooded figures were everywhere. He had no idea how he would find Asuka inside this mess. "Asuka! ASUKA!" Shinji yelled, trying to locate the Asuka that was in her own mind. He received no reply but proceeded on undeterred. The hooded figures were everywhere, as far as Shinji's eyes could see yet he carried on. And as suddenly as the hooded figures appeared, they were gone and Shinji was stood in front of the person he had been searching for.

"Asuka," he said softly.

"Shinji…please…help me," Asuka said weakly.

"Yes Asuka, I'm here to help you," Shinji said.

"Please, help me. Make it stop looking into my mind," Asuka said.

"Okay Asuka, I'll…"

"No, wait! I can't let you see inside my mind! Shinji stay away from me! Go away!"

"Asuka! No! Don't do this!"

The figure of Asuka began to disappear from Shinji's sight and the blackness was beginning to fade back into the entry plug of Unit 01. Asuka was rejecting Shinji entry into her mind, even if she thought that the Shinji she saw in her mind was made from her thoughts. Shinji wasn't about to give up. Just as Asuka was about to fade completely from view, Shinji reached forward and grabbed her hand tightly. The entry plug disappeared from view and it was just Shinji and Asuka. "Shinji…please, I don't want you to see what I am," Asuka said. "You'll hate me."

"No Asuka. I could never hate you," Shinji said, making sure he had a firm grip of Asuka's hand.

The blackness that surrounded them soon changed to the seen of a single room where a woman had hung herself from the ceiling. However, Shinji kept his eyes away from that sordid spectacle and kept his eye's firmly locked onto Asuka. "Look at me, Asuka," Shinji said. "You've got to use your strength to try and get this thing out of your head."

"Shinji…it's seeing everything I don't want to see. It's remembering everything I don't want to remember!" Asuka cried.

"Asuka, that's the past! It's gone! You can't change it, but you shouldn't let it control you! You are who you are! Your past is your past! You've got to accept it and help me to try drive this angel away!" Shinji pleaded. "Asuka, please! I love you! You've got to get through this!"

Asuka looked up to meet Shinji's gaze and tears began to stream out of her eyes. "Shinji…how could you love someone like me?" Asuka asked.

"Easy," Shinji said before planting his lips over Asuka's and drowning the both of them in a deep kiss. Suddenly, all the memories of Asuka's mind that were projected all around them by the angel were shattered by a brilliant white light and Shinji knew that it was over for this angel.

* * *

"Asuka's synch ratio just surpassed 100 percent!" Makoto cried.

"What?!" Misato exclaimed. The operations officer turned to face the main screen and saw the building up of a massive force around Unit 02. The ground began to shake around the red Eva. Light seemed to refract in the air around Unit 02 due to the immense energy it was giving. "What the…?" Toji said before a massive white beam shot out from Unit 02. The angel's beam dissipated as Unit 02's beam shot through the Earth's atmosphere and cut right through the angel whilst it was still in orbit. And like that, the entire ordeal was over with Unit 02 coming up with an incredible attack seemingly out of nowhere.

"That AT Field…it was superlative defying," Ritsuko said.

Misato shook her head and said, "No…it was a miracle."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

Saying that there was a lot on Asuka's mind was a bit of an understatement. It was also an understatement saying that things were difficult to understand for her in this current moment in time. The last thing she had expected to read in the after-battle report for the previous angel battle was, 'Angel No 15 destroyed in combat by Pilot Sohryu in Evangelion Unit 02. No trace of target remaining'. Asuka had another angel kill to her name but she didn't feel at all like she did it. However, despite everything she thought and the reasoning she came up with herself, she was still the one in the end that killed the angel and she got all the credit. Normally, that would have been like feeding coal to the raging fire that was her ego but today, she didn't feel anything of the sort. She just felt confused and unsure about the events that transpired the day she was literally mind raped.

It all boiled down to one thing; Shinji. Why did she see him in her mind? Some say the imagination likes to play tricks but this was a level beyond that. When she was trapped inside her own mind, fighting a losing battle, there he was. Her boyfriend and something quite else to Asuka, an image inside her head. She spoke to the Shinji in her mind and he spoke back and throughout it all, he felt so real, so much like the real Shinji that Asuka knew that she was in love with. The air that escaped his mouth formed words that were very easily fathomable by the girl. They floated around her mind and gave her something that was hidden deep down inside her. But what?

Asuka looked down at her packed lunch and held the sandwich in her hand. However, it didn't get any closer to her mouth as she sat still, staring into space in front of her. "Are you all right, Asuka?" Hikari inquired.

"I'm…lost," Asuka said before dropping her sandwich and her lunch and heading away out of the classroom.

"Asuka!" Hikari called out. However, Asuka disappeared, leaving a mess on the ground and leaving Hikari worrying about her friend. She had noticed Asuka had been a little bit quiet today but it was nothing worrying until now. The girls in the class all looked at each other in shock. They had never seen Asuka the way she was today and it had everyone talking.

Asuka walked through the hallways of her school and went past many people. She was aware that many of them knew that she was Asuka Langley Sohryu, pilot of Evangelion Unit 02 but past that, they knew nothing about her at all. She wondered whether it was like that with the people that she held relationships with. Did Shinji know who she really was? Did Misato know who she really was? Did Kaji know who she really was? Did her father know who she really was? Asuka wasn't sure herself who she really was anymore. She knew she was the pilot of Unit 02 but beyond that, there was a dark haze that obscured what her life meant beyond being a soldier on the frontline of a very real and very dangerous war.

She had to face up to her past again and that was bringing up many, many questions within her mind. She saw that horrid moment when she found her mother dead, hanging from the ceiling, lifeless. She saw the moments that succeeded that, and how she swore she would never cry again. Asuka began to lock up her emotions in a vault within herself and in doing so, she began to lose sight of who she was and why she was piloting Eva, and why she was the way she was. That all changed the day that she and Shinji shared their first kiss. That was the day that the vault in her heart was slowly being pried open, millimetre by millimetre. She began to let her emotions have more freedom. In doing so, she left herself exposed to a battle in her mind between the deepest, darkest thoughts she kept and the newly freed emotions she had experienced.

When she was beaten so easily by the 14th angel, she began to question her self worth. She looked at herself in the mirror and she didn't see anything but a hollow shell. She had thought that she was no use as a pilot anymore. She was ready to give up on life itself. Yet, something inside her kept her on her own two feet. Along with a little encouragement from Shinji, she could smile again. That battle had been won by the strength of her emotions and the links she had shared with other people.

Now, she wasn't questioning her self worth; she was just incredibly confused by the experience that she saw during the attack of the 15th angel. What was that feeling that she felt when she saw Shinji inside her mind? What was that overwhelming power she was witness to when she kissed the Shinji inside her mind? Asuka just didn't know at this present time. She continued to wonder and found herself heading out into the central courtyard of the school. The heat of the day immediately made itself felt and Asuka immediately found it slightly discomforting. However, she continued outwards, seeing what there was to see outside.

As she walked, she looked up towards the roof of the school building and caught sight of Shinji, Toji and Kensuke. Normally, she would feel disgust at the sight of the three stooges together but now, when she caught sight of Shinji, there was a sudden calming influence coming over her. She didn't know what, but the very sight of Shinji was the catalyst for a strong force inside of her that brought her away from her past and her need to fill her ego. However, she had no idea what that force was. As she continued to watch Shinji, she saw him and his friends laugh, presumably at a joke that one of them cracked. After staring at the smile on Shinji's face, Asuka began to realise what she was feeling all this time.

An uplifting emotion that brought her above her dark past. A feeling that allowed her to open her eyes and smile even when everything seemed to be going against her. It gave her the strength to fight past obscurity and come out on top of battles that seemed impossible to win. It was a powerful force and possibly one of the most incredible things that the entire human race possessed, never mind just Asuka. The redhead looked at Shinji's smile and then looked up at the clear blue sky above her and smiled herself, having realised what the feeling was that brought her through the last battle and the feeling that brought her through the tough times in her life. It seemed that Shinji acted as a catalyst for this feeling. Asuka's radiant smile shone as brightly as the sun as she saw that it was hope that she was feeling all this time. Asuka felt hope, and as long as she was with Shinji and felt hope, then maybe there was a chance for her after all.

* * *

Alarms were blaring all over NERV. The highest level alert was called and everybody was immediately at their battle stations. Misato ran as fast as she could to her post. She saw that Ritsuko and the three main computer technicians were already present. The entirety of central dogma was tinged red from the incessant warning lights. "I'm here!" Misato called out.

"You're late!" Ritsuko scorned.

"Sorry, no excuse! What's the situation?" Misato inquired.

"It's…actually, I don't know," Ritsuko admitted.

"You don't know?!" Misato exclaimed incredulously. "Well, it's bound to be an angel, right?"

"Probably," Ritsuko agreed. "It was the commander himself who called the alarm."

"What? He's never done that before," Misato said.

"I know. We'll just have to wait and see what he thinks the problem is," Ritsuko said.

Gendo appeared at the top of his perch and cleared his throat. "Attention! We have a grave situation here in NERV HQ itself," Gendo announced.

"Within NERV itself?" Shigeru asked.

"That means it's gotta be bad," Makoto said.

"Ladies and gentlemen…it is worse than I imagined…several penguins have escaped the enclosure," Gendo said.

Misato and the three technicians all collapsed onto the ground and Ritsuko sweat dropped. The alarms immediately shut of with the sound of the needle scratching off of the vinyl on a record. Misato shakily brought herself to her feet as she looked up at the commander. "Are you serious, sir?" Misato asked.

"Deadly," Gendo replied.

"No! Not that!" Misato cried. "You called the highest alert we possibly have! The United States, Russia and the United Kingdom currently have all their nuclear weapons pointed at Tokyo-3 and the entire Japanese Self-Defence Forces were poised to strike at a moment's notice! All for a couple of penguins?!"

"Yes, it is worse than I initially imagined as well," Gendo said, apparently in agreement with Misato.

"Is he insane?!" Misato asked Ritsuko.

"I'm afraid so," Ritsuko answered.

"Eva Unit 01 is officially released from its lockdown. Launch all four Eva units to engage the penguin threat," Gendo ordered.

"Permission to speak," Misato said, almost fainting from the ludicrous nature of the commander's plan.

"Granted," Gendo said.

"I would advise that we engage to penguins on foot, as to avoid killing hundreds of penguins, NERV personnel and causing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage to NERV HQ," Misato said, hoping that maybe the commander retained even a tiny bit of common bit of common sense.

"…Very well," Gendo said, his voice audibly cracking. "Engage the penguins…on foot."

The four Eva pilots arrived as soon as they could from the calling of the alarm and were ready to change into their plug suits when Misato stopped them. "It seems that the threat isn't an angel," Misato said.

"It isn't an angel?" Toji asked.

"Then why the hell are we here?!" Asuka cried.

"It's by direct order of the commander," Misato pointed out. "And by the way, the threat…and you won't believe this…is penguins."

"Penguins?" Rei asked.

"That's right. Penguins that escaped from NERV's artificial Antarctica," Misato answered. "Our mission is to apprehend the escapee penguins and return them to the enclosure."

"This is by direct order of the commander?" Asuka asked.

"Yup," Misato replied. "And between you guys and me, if you don't think he's insane, then you're probably crazier than he is."

"I think he's insane," Toji said immediately.

"So do I," Asuka scoffed.

"He might be flesh and blood, but it doesn't mean he can't be crazy," Shinji concurred in a roundabout sort of way.

"I believe that the only logical explanation to the commander's erratic behaviour is that he is currently mentally unstable," Rei agreed in an even more roundabout kind of way.

"That's good. We all agree that he's mad. Unfortunately, he's the boss and the boss wants us to catch us some penguins. What he says goes…except that he did want us to use the Eva Units to capture our feathered friends," Misato pointed out.

"I…well, I don't actually have anything to say anymore, I'm that stunned," Asuka said.

"Anyone got anything else to say?" Misato asked. The Eva pilots all shook their heads. "Well, that's settled. Now, to begin with, let me introduce our best tool in finding our lost penguins!"

Misato revealed Pen-Pen who was attached to a leash with a very befuddled look on the penguin's face. "Meet Pen-Pen, our sniffer-penguin!" Misato said.

"Our…what…?" Shinji asked.

"Sniffer-penguin!" Misato reiterated. "What better tool to find penguins than a penguin itself?"

"I don't believe this," Asuka said, bringing her palm toward her face.

"And Pen-Pen was really keen to do it as well!" Misato added. At that moment, Pen-Pen tried to run away, stopped only by a firm tug of his leash by Misato, causing the purple haired woman to laugh nervously. "Why don't we start looking for those penguins now, huh? Let's go!" Misato, spurring her fellow, albeit reluctant, penguin hunters on. As they headed off, Shinji himself was finding everything very strange and unusual. _Before, I would play pranks and do silly things for laughs, _the teenage god thought. _But now, these things are happening on their own! Have I started something here?!_ The answer to Shinji's question was probably yes, but at least he could laugh at everything that was happening.

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the office of Gendo Ikari, more events transpired against the commander's sanity. "You're the new head of the intelligence section?" Gendo inquired.

"Yes, I am," the man replied. "And I'm here to tell you that your new intelligence section is now officially on strike. You didn't say anything about penguins invading our offices in the job description!" Gendo began to slowly sink off of his chair and onto the ground, leaving Fuyutsuki to usher the head of intelligence out so that he could pick up Gendo from the ground and try to coax him out of his state of shock.

* * *

Back to our intrepid penguin hunters, things were not going well. "So, do we even know where to start?" Toji inquired.

"Try to think like a penguin," Shinji said.

"Yeah, great idea Shinji. We might as well ask Pen-Pen that question as well," Asuka snapped.

"Sorry Asuka," Shinji said.

"You don't need to apologise! Just go!" Asuka snapped once more.

"Sorry," Shinji said, despite everything his girlfriend just said.

"Dude, you are so whipped," Toji chuckled.

"I am not!" Shinji cried.

"Shinji is 'whipped'?" Rei asked. "I do not understand."

"His girlfriend owns his ass, that's what!" Toji continued.

"Hey!" Shinji said indignantly. "Don't forget that time Hikari came storming into to class asking about where you put her girl's magazine, one that _you_ had been reading!"

"But…that was a good magazine…I swear," Toji said weakly in his defence.

"His girlfriend owns his ass?" Rei asked in confusion.

"Female supremacy," Asuka pointed out. "You should get a boyfriend and try it out."

"I'm not too sure I could do that," Rei said.

"Suit yourself," Asuka said. "Anyway, don't we have penguins to find?"

"If I were a penguin," Shinji said, reappearing from his argument with Toji, "then where would I hide?"

"As far away from Misato as possible!" Asuka said. "Just look at her!" The four Eva pilots turned to see Misato whistling as if she were calling a dog. "Here, penguin, penguin, penguin, penguin, here, penguin!" she said. All the while, Pen-Pen was constantly trying to escape so that he could take a hot bath and forget about everything that happened that day. "Announcement to the NERV penguin hunting team; the penguins have last been spotted in the intelligence section offices," said a female voice over the PA. "Repeat, the penguins have last been spotted in the intelligence section offices."

"Right! Here we go!" Misato said. "You guys ready?"

"Ready as I could ever be for something I don't want to do," Asuka said sourly.

"Right! Let's go then!" Misato said.

The five of them headed off to the intelligence section in search of their missing penguins in an effort to simply appease the commander. However, Misato knew that she was doing this to prevent the commander from destroying NERV from the inside by making rash decisions in his current state of mind. It didn't mean she couldn't have fun chasing after penguins though, and the idea was appealing to her the more she did it, despite the visible dismay of all the Eva pilots.

They went through NERV HQ towards the intelligence section offices whilst still on the constant lookout for any sign of penguin. However, their best searching brought no results. Those penguins were proving to be ever elusive this time, causing Asuka to get more and more on edge. "You know, something tells me that no penguins actually escaped. Maybe the commander just made this up or saw it all in his head," she said in annoyance.

"I usually hate to agree with you, but I think you've got a point there," Toji said. "If the commander is going crazy, then maybe this was all a figment of his loony imagination and that we're on a wild goose, well, penguin chase."

"I'd love to say that you two are right but the commander had a very complicated system installed into the penguin habitat that would immediately notify him directly if a penguin escaped," Misato pointed out.

"Where does he get the money for all this? Surely the UN wouldn't pay for that," Shinji said.

"It was the money he would have paid the intelligence section had they not been I strike, I am led to believe. But that's just speculation. Your guess is as good as mine," Misato explained. "Anyway, let's just get to the intelligence section offices and see if we can catch us some penguins."

They pressed on and once they reached the intelligence section offices, they found no penguins in plain sight. "Well, that was a waste of perfectly good time," Asuka moaned. "Can we go now?"

"No," Misato said. "We have to follow our orders regardless of what they are unfortunately." At that, Asuka turned around and shot Rei a dirty look. "What?" Rei asked with a confused looked on her face.

"Oh, nothing," Asuka said. "It's just that you follow orders without questions."

"We are pilots of a paramilitary organisation. It is what we do, is it not?" Rei inquired.

"She's got you there," Toji said.

"Hmph," Asuka said. "Shinji, you're on my side, right?"

"Yes Asuka," Shinji replied, without actually having paid attention to the dispute. "I wonder where all the penguins have gone."

"That's the burning question just now, isn't it?" Misato said. They looked around and found nothing but Kaji rummaging through the intelligence section records, an act that could land him in some serious trouble if he was caught by people who actually cared about the intelligence section records.

"Kaji! I thought I told you to lay low for a while!" Misato cried.

"Huh? Oh, sorry babe," Kaji said. "I saw an opportunity and I, uh, took it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Now get your ass into hiding before somebody tries to shoot you again!" Misato said.

"Somebody tried to shoot Kaji?" Asuka asked worriedly.

"Long story," Kaji stated. "Anyway, I'll try and stay underground for a bit longer this time and only come out until it's safe."

"That's better," Misato said with a sigh of relief.

"By the way, we still on for this Friday night? There's this great Chinese restaurant that…"

"KAJI!!!" Misato snapped.

"Um, yeah, laying low, going. But we still on, yeah?" Kaji persisted.

Misato sighed and said, "Yes…we're still on."

"Great! See you guys later!" he said before literally galloping off away.

"If I wasn't dating him, I would have smacked him there and then…no, wait, I would have smacked him anyway had it occurred to me then," Misato muttered.

"Men, huh?" Asuka asked.

"Tell me about it," Misato concurred.

"Hey!!" both Shinji and Toji cried, trying to defend the male half of the species. Despite their best efforts, females always seemed to get the better of them. Shinji especially. It was then Rei called out, "I see a penguin!"

"WHERE?!" Misato cried. "Pen-Pen! Find the penguin!" Misato let go of Pen-Pen's leash and pointed in the direction that Rei said the sighted penguin was. To this, Pen-Pen replied by running away in the opposite direction as fast as it could, trying to get away to freedom. "Well, that worked," Asuka muttered. "And anyway, hasn't it occurred to anybody how we're actually going to capture these penguins?"

"We're going to…oh yeah, I forgot about that part," Misato chuckled with a sheepish smile.

"So we don't know how we're actually getting our hands on these penguins? I mean, they look pretty big…they are pretty big," Toji pointed out.

"I'm not diving in head first on this one," Asuka said.

"Those penguins look like they could be vicious if they want to be," Shinji said. "They're like 4 feet tall as well."

"I'm not going after them," Toji said.

"Well, I'm the operations officer. I do things backstage, know what I mean?" Misato added. All eyes turned to Rei who looked back at them, knowing what they were going to say. She beat them to it by saying, "Very well, I shall capture this penguin."

"That's the spirit! On you go Rei!" Misato cheered.

Rei approached the penguin casually and went down on her knees in front of it. It was all very bemusing to the rest of the penguin chasing team. There was a short period of time were Rei was simply looking at the Emperor Penguin, following where the penguin was looking. Suddenly, then penguin called out and around fifty penguins appeared from cupboards, desks, waste paper bins and plant pots. They all converged around Rei and the penguin she had initially made contact with. Rei then stood up and began to walk away, with all the penguins following her.

Meanwhile, Misato, Toji, Shinji and Asuka were all at a lost for words at the moment. It seemed Rei had some unique ability that enabled her to somehow communicate with Emperor Penguins that perplexed the rest of the penguin hunting team. They could only follow the rearmost penguin in astonishment at Rei's remarkable ability. The followed until they reached the Eva cage that had been converted into an artificial Antarctica which was filled with water and had a considerable amount of ice in it. The habitat was controlled by a very complicated an advanced climate control system that would have cost millions.

The four spectators watch as Rei opened the side door to the habitat and allowed the penguins to dive into the water in the enclosure one by one. Soon, the last penguin was in and the entire issue was dealt with. Misato began to clap her hands, impressed with Rei's achievement and Shinji, Toji and Asuka soon joined suit, giving Rei a small round of applause. "That was incredible, Rei!" Misato said. "How did you know you could speak to penguins?"

"I spoke to them?" Rei asked.

"Well, you managed to communicate with them, didn't you?" Asuka said.

"I did not communicate with them," Rei pointed out. "They just simply wanted to follow me. For what, I do not know."

"It doesn't matter anyway, you managed to solve the penguin problem, even though it wasn't much of a problem in the first place, and now we can get back to our real jobs," Misato said.

"And thank God for that as well," Asuka muttered.

* * *

Several weeks past without event. NERV was safe from the threat of penguins and all was going well for everyone, everywhere. That was, until an angel made an appearance. Everybody within NERV rushed to their battle stations to try to counter the newfound threat. Even Gendo in his weakened state of made managed to make it up to his perch, although it took several minutes of coaxing from Fuyutsuki to make him come out from underneath his desk. The commander eventually made his appearance, behind the usual mask of apparent indifference that he always formed. Misato looked up at the man and hoped that he wouldn't try and order them to do something absurd because he looked and seemed very capable of it ever since the fiasco with the escaped penguins. Gendo had his finger on the big red button, looking for any excuse to push it.

"Launch all four Eva units," Misato ordered.

"Major Katsuragi, may I remind you that Unit 01 is in lockdown?" Gendo said.

"Sir, with all due respect, may I remind you that you cancelled its lockdown when the penguins escaped," Misato pointed out. The very utterance of the word penguin caused Gendo to shudder, giving Misato the smallest of windows to get all four Evangelion Units launched before the commander could do anything about it. "Evangelion Units 00 through 03, launch!" Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" Makoto acknowledged, getting all four Units away before Gendo could do anything about it.

Not only was Gendo losing a grip of his mind, he was also losing a grip of his command as it seemed all his subordinates were doing anything in their power to undermine him and go against his orders. Normally, Gendo would have them all shot but now, he could barely walk without fear of hearing the word penguin or even seeing one of the blasted creatures. Despite his job being the commander of an organisation whose job was to counter the threat of angels, Gendo was more worried about the penguins that made NERV their home and in doing so; he was very much losing the plot. He couldn't even remember where his revulsion of the animals began.

"All four Eva Units have been launched," Shigeru reported.

"All vital signs are normal," Maya added.

"All right," Misato said. "What does this angel want to do then? Does it want to play hard ball?"

"It's been revolving in its current state for the past while now and we can't really tell what it's got up its sleeve," Ritsuko said.

"Permission to engage the target?" Asuka asked hopefully.

"Denied," Misato said flatly.

"Damn it!" Asuka cursed.

"Continue to observe the movements of the angel and only engage once you think you have a clear shot," Misato ordered.

"I've got a clear shot now," Asuka pointed out.

Misato by this point was pretty miffed at the girl's persistence, "You know what I mean, Asuka. Just don't engage it just now."

"Can I engage it?" Toji inquired. "You know, just to piss off Asuka."

"The no engage thing goes for all of you," Misato said with a tired sigh. "Jeez, whose idea was it to hand giant biomecha things over to kids?"

"NERV's and GEHIRN's," Ritsuko replied plainly. "You never used to mind."

"I don't mind. It's just kids are kids and that can get to you sometimes," Misato said.

"Feeling your age?" Ritsuko inquired.

"Shut it!" Misato snapped.

The four Eva Units were stood outside in the Geofront whilst the angel continued to spin around in the air above it. Shinji had a feeling that something would go bad soon but he also had the feeling that he would have nothing in his power to stop that happening. He watched the angel, and to be honest, he got bored pretty quickly. The angel wasn't doing anything that interesting. "These angels don't get any less weird, do they?" Toji asked.

"You can say that again," Shinji agreed. The angel looked like a giant, white luminescent paper chain and was floating above them and generally being nondescript. Well, as nondescript as a giant, white luminescent paper chain could be. "Something doesn't feel right," Rei said.

"Check your climate control," Asuka said with a yawn.

"Not that," Rei said. "The angel, it's going to attack."

Rei wasn't wrong either. The angel suddenly changed form into a giant, white luminescent serpent like entity and lunged forward towards Unit 00. "REI!!!" Misato cried. As the angel was about to strike, a loud gunshot cracked across the Geofront and the angel was blasted away from Rei. And the person who made the shot was none other than Asuka. "Now you owe me one, Wondergirl," Asuka said. Rei managed a weak smile and said, "Yes, I suppose I do."

"HEY! THE ANGEL ISN'T DEAD YET!" Toji cried, who found that he was the new target of the angel's attacks.

"Toji, watch out!" Shinji yelled.

The angel struck out at Unit 03 and Toji somehow managed to throw his Eva out of the way as the angel crashed into the ground and destroyed a considerable amount of foliage. Shinji then fired his rifle at the angel but this time, the shots were deflected by the angel's AT Field. As well as that, the angel made Shinji its new target. Shinji found the angel too fast for him and it slammed straight into his Eva. Instead of sending Unit 01 flying backwards however, the angel instead began to merge with his Eva.

"Contamination detected in Unit 01!" Maya cried.

Gendo put his face in his right hand and muttered, "This was why Unit 01 was in lockdown."

"Shinji! Hang in there! The other Units are coming in to support!" Misato said.

Unit 02 took its prog knife out and tried to slash at the angel but found that once she made contact, the angel immediately began to merge with the knife, forcing Asuka to let go of her blade. "Agh! Damn it!" she cried. "Shinji! We're going to get that thing off of you, I swear!" Rei fired her positron rifle from a distance but the angel simply deflected it with its AT Field. Toji tried to attack the angel with various forms of melee weapons but the angel simply began to merge with the weapons, forcing the Units to back off.

"This sucks," Shinji muttered, feeling the angel overcoming him and his Eva.

"Projectile weapons and close quarters combat weapons all don't work!" Asuka cried. "Shinji, please, hang in there!"

"I'm fine…I think," Shinji said. "I think the angel is trying to talk to me."

"What?!" Misato cried.

"That's a first level contact!" Ritsuko yelled. "We can't have that!"

"Contamination levels are reaching dangerous levels!" Maya cried.

"I could just self-destruct Unit 01," Shinji suggested.

"NO! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THAT!" Asuka cried.

"It would kill the angel," Shinji pointed out.

"No Shinji…just…don't," Asuka said.

Shinji found himself becoming delirious and his vision began to blur. "What the hell is going on?" he asked no one in particular. For Shinji, he didn't care if Unit 01 disappeared. Shinji would survive the self-destruction because of his powers. But he didn't know whether that was the right thing to do. There would be no way to explain how he survived and besides, Unit 01 along with the soul of his mother would be gone and Shinji didn't know if he could wipe those out so simply just to kill an angel.

Shinji then tried to focus his powers on trying to get the angel away from him. And unlike every other recent angel battle, his powers had some effect. "There's an AT Field building up from within Unit 01!" Shigeru cried.

"From within? What do you mean?" Ritsuko asked.

"It's internal…it's like its fighting the angel's invasion from the inside!" Shigeru replied.

"Is that even possible?" Misato asked.

"I have no idea," Ritsuko admitted. "Anything seems possible with these Evas."

"Contamination levels are decreasing rapidly…the angel is being expelled from Unit 01!" Makoto cried.

In a sudden bust of energy and light, the angel flew out of Unit 01 and back into the air, freeing Unit 01 and Shinji from its grasp. "How the hell…?" Toji asked.

"Watch out! That angel is still looking dangerous!" Asuka warned. And it was very, very dangerous. Its next move saw it lunging towards Unit 02 which promptly dodged the angel's attack with barely inches to spare. This brought the angel flying straight at Unit 00 once more and this time, nobody stopped the angel. It went straight through the body of Unit 00, immediately beginning its contamination of Unit 00.

"REI!" Misato cried.

"You're not going down that easily!" Asuka yelled. Unit 02 charged and grabbed the angel with its bare hands, only to let go almost immediately as she felt the angel begin to invade her Eva. "We can't do anything!" Asuka cried.

"We have to keep on trying!" Toji said.

"Contamination of Unit 00 is at dangerous levels!" Ritsuko cried.

"Shit!" Misato cursed.

"Rei, hang on!" Asuka said.

"Asuka…" Rei said weakly.

"What? Rei, are you all right?" Asuka said, firing at the angel with a palette rifle as she spoke.

"You…you called me by my name, Asuka," Rei said.

"Rei…what are you saying?" Asuka said.

"There is only one way to stop the angel," Rei answered. "I have to self-destruct Unit 00."

"Wait…Rei, NO!" Asuka cried.

"REI! Don't do it! We can find a way to beat the angel! I promise you Rei, we will!" Shinji cried.

"If you try and help me, then you are all at risk. At least this way, you are all safe from the angel," Rei said.

"NO!" Shinji cried.

"Self-destruct of Unit 00 has been activated," Maya said. "Unit 00 will detonate in thirty seconds."

"Rei…what are you doing?!" Toji cried.

"We can kill the angel Rei; you don't have to do this!" Shinji said.

"It is…it is too late," Rei said. "I have already activated the self-destruct…goodbye, everyone."

"REI!!!" Shinji cried.

"Ten seconds," Maya said, her voice cracking up.

Shinji closed his eyes and focused all the power he had on trying to save Rei. He wanted her to be safe from the explosion. The angel didn't matter. If Rei died here, then everything she would have experienced in learning to live would be gone. She would be replaced by another Rei who would have no memory of the connections and the bridges she had started to form with everybody. He couldn't let this Rei die here. She didn't deserve to die. Her willingness to sacrifice herself for others was testament to that. _You know, now would be a great time for a miracle to happen! _Shinji though in his mind. _Come on Rei, don't give up on me just yet!_

"Three…two…one…" Maya counted in dismay. However, after the count of one, nothing happened. There was no explosion, there was no giant fireball. Instead, Maya said, "The self-destruct system…it stopped."

"Rei! Can you hear me?!" Misato yelled.

"Yes…I am still here," she said weakly.

"We're going to get that angel Rei," Misato said. "Just hold on."

Shinji was completely focused on getting that angel out of Rei and out into the open so that they could kill it. He wanted to allow Rei to use the power that she had within her to expel and destroy the angel, like he had done for Asuka. During his time in Asuka's mind, Shinji had discovered that everybody has a dormant power within them that could be used to perform incredible deeds, miracles even. In Asuka, that dormant power was her hope. It allowed her to escape the mind rape that she was subject to and destroy the angel doing it. Now, he needed Rei to let out that force within her that would allow her to defeat this angel. And Shinji felt that presence within Rei, just wanting to be unleashed. All Shinji needed to do was to give Rei a little bit of help in tapping into that power.

"Rei's AT Field is expanding!" Shigeru cried. "It's beginning to expel the angel!"

"She's expelling the angel?!" Misato asked.

"Whoa! This AT Field is as strong as the one Asuka came up with against the last angel!" Makoto exclaimed. "The angel is beginning to disintegrate!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ritsuko said. "How is she doing this?!"

"I have no idea!" Maya cried. "But she's killing the angel!"

"This is incredible," Ritsuko said.

Soon, the angel was completely gone and a heavily damaged Unit 00 collapsed onto the ground. "Rei? Are you all right?!" Shinji asked, worried that he might have gone too far with his powers. There was no reply, but the entry plug of Unit 00 did eject, giving them the indication that Rei was all right. Shinji was glad that he found a way to make his powers work. He was winning his battle against fate bit by bit and he once again thanked God for this chance to make things right.

* * *

Rei opened her eyes and was greeted to the white ceiling of NERV's infirmary. She tried to move her fingers and found that she still had motion in her arms. She did the same for her toes and deduced that she was uninjured. Her last memory was that of her ejecting out of Eva Unit 00 before falling unconscious. She remembered how she felt a force well up inside of her that in turned counteracted the invasion of the angel. She had no idea where the force came from, but was thankful for it. She was also unsure why the self-destruct of her Eva Unit failed as well but again, was in the end thankful for it as it meant that she was still alive as she was.

"Hey Rei!" called Shinji, who entered Rei's ward. He was followed by Asuka, Toji and Misato. "How are you feeling?" Shinji asked.

"I…I feel fine," Rei said.

"That's good to hear," Misato said.

"It is very good to hear," Asuka agreed. "Anyway, we're just here to thank you for today."

"Thank me?" Rei asked in confusion.

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself so that we could be safe from that angel," Toji said.

"And we cannot show you enough appreciation for what you are willing to do for us, Rei," Asuka said.

"So we're just here to say get better soon, Rei," Shinji said. "We're your friends and we're always there for you, just like you were there for the all of us."

Rei didn't know what emotions she was currently feeling, but it caused tears to flow from her eyes. She remembered what Shinji said all that time ago when they fought the fifth angel and there and then, Rei smiled, as well as crying tears of happiness. "Thank you," she said, her smile as radiant as the Tokyo-3 sunshine. And it was there that Shinji witnessed another miracle. He was seeing the true strength of mankind and was quickly learning why God put so much faith and trust in a race that was so deeply flawed yet at the same time, possessed immense potential for great deeds of good. Shinji couldn't help but smile along with Rei.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Please tell me if the penguin gag is getting old, because I've noticed I've kept it going since Chapter 3! (The Gendo's sanity gag comes a bit later). If not, then I intend to bleed it for all its worth! 


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

**Author's Note:** Due to the response about the penguins, they will be staying in this fic! I did struggle to put them anywhere in this chapter though. Anyway, without any furtherado, here is Chapter 10 of Shinji Almighty!

* * *

"Tabris," said the booming voice of SEELE 1. "Now is the time for you to awaken." The thirteen monoliths surrounded a black, open casket. Inside, a boy only 15 years of age lay. Or what appeared to be a fifteen year old boy. Upon hearing the voices of SEELE, his opened his eyes, revealing that they were a crimson not dissimilar from that of Rei Ayanami's. His hair was a curious shade of grey that seemed like an oxymoron to his young age, but strangely matched against the backdrop of pale skin and red eyes. The boy sat up from his casket and smiled. "It is time, is it?" he inquired.

"Yes Tabris," SEELE 1 said. "You shall do as it is written in the Dead Sea Scrolls."

"Or more the will of SEELE," he commented.

"There can be no other way," SEELE 3 pointed out. "The scenario must be followed."

"You know your role, Tabris," SEELE 1 said. "Now go forth and do what you must."

The thirteen monoliths disappeared, leaving the boy alone in the dark haze that seemed to encompass anything that SEELE touched. He sat up and looked about his surroundings, seeing that there was indeed nothing to see. As he slowly grew accustomed to living, he felt a strange sensation. It was almost like a premonition. "I look forward to meeting you again, Shinji Ikari," he said. "Although I feel that this time, things will be very different."

* * *

Misato tapped her pen off her desk, amusing herself with the various percussive effects she could produce with a simple writing implement. On her computer screen was a game of spider solitaire. In hours of boredom, Misato had mastered normal solitaire, FreeCell, hearts, minesweeper and got a score of well over 50 million on pinball. She had put off spider solitaire for quite a while but now she had almost cracked it with four decks. It was a very unproductive way for the operations officer to pass her time but with the Eva Units seemingly unstoppable against everything they had come across, Misato saw no reason to make herself fret over unnecessary work. She focused all her attention on the screen in front of her, trying to win her first ever game of spider solitaire with four decks.

Suddenly, her office door slammed opened and Ritsuko barged in. It caused Misato to leap out of her seat in fright. "Oh? Did I startle you?" Ritsuko inquired with a grin.

"Next time…knock," Misato growled. "What is it? I'm kind of busy at the moment." Ritsuko then proceeded to peer over at Misato's computer screen and indeed saw that Misato was 'busy'. "Oh, I see. Very busy," Ritsuko said.

"Shut up," Misato snapped.

"Listen, I've got important news. I, unlike some other particular individual, have been hard at work," Ritsuko said.

"You were always the workaholic," Misato scoffed. "So, what is it?"

"We've just received news on the delivery of a new Eva Unit," Ritsuko said.

"Oh? Another one?" Misato asked.

"Yes, another one," Ritsuko replied.

"It's not like we need it," Misato noted. "The four we have are perfectly fine. What's causing the UN to send another one our way?"

"I have no idea," Ritsuko replied honestly. "It does seem a bit odd. I never even knew that they were making another production model. I knew that they're making an Eva series, but I thought that was it."

"Yeah, I've heard about the Eva series as well," Misato said. "So this is news to everybody?"

"Yes, it is. Eva Unit 05 was officially completed last night at 23h45 local time and it was a joint collaboration between Russia and China," Ritsuko explained.

Misato frowned at the news. She wasn't expecting this and unexpected things in this line of work were usually bad things. "And now that we're getting another Eva, that must mean that we're getting another pilot," Misato assumed.

"That's what I was about to get onto," Ritsuko said. "The Fifth Child has been found by Marduk."

"Awfully convenient. Just as soon as we're getting the new unit as well," Misato said.

"I know what you mean," Ritsuko agreed. "But we just have to play the hand we're dealt."

"It just doesn't seem right," Misato said. "We simply don't need another Eva or another pilot. Why would the UN or NERV throw money at something we just don't need?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, maybe even better," Ritsuko said.

Misato frowned once more, not pleased at the news at all. "Do you have any data on the new pilot?" Misato inquired.

"Right here in this file," Ritsuko said, handing a USB flash drive to Misato. The operations officer got to work straight away accessing the file and loaded up the document that contained the details of the Fifth Child. She didn't like what she saw. "Ritsuko, the only things on this document are his name, his date of birth and a photograph," Misato pointed out. "Just a name…Kaworu Nagisa."

"I'm afraid that's all we could get," Ritsuko said.

"His date of birth," Misato added. "That's the day of Second Impact. Some day to get born."

"It does seem odd," Ritsuko said. "Anyhow, we are getting the new pilot and Eva Unit regardless of anything you or I say so I guess we'll have to grow accustomed to having 5 pilots and Evas about."

The blonde doctor took her leave and left Misato to ponder this new situation. Maybe Misato was just being paranoid but everything about receiving this new unit and pilot didn't seem right. And as operations officer, Misato would have been one of the first people to ask for a new unit had she thought that their combat readiness was sub par. However, she wasn't consulted on receiving the new Eva and Ritsuko was seemingly in the dark about it all as well. Misato doubted that asking the commanders would reveal much because they were about as likely to tell her anything as Gendo was as likely to befriend a penguin. The more she thought about it, the more she disliked it. She abandoned her game of spider solitaire, shut down her computer and grabbed her jacket.

Misato waited until she was in NERV's car park before taking out her mobile phone and dialling the first speed-dial. "Hello? Kaji, it's Misato…yeah, I'm fine. Listen, we need to talk, it's important…It's business…Yeah, okay, that sounds fine. I'll meet you there," the purpled haired woman said before swiftly hanging up. She had to make sure the call was quick as not to give any listening devices a chance. And she didn't say anything untoward over the phone. It just sounded like a routine communication between work colleagues. Well, that's what Misato hoped it sounded like as she hastily boarded her car. Misato started the engine and immediately pulled out before zooming away out of NERV HQ and towards a certain location within the GeoFront.

Kaji was stood with a watering can in his right hand whilst his left hand found a home in his trouser pocket. The water from his can was lightly sprinkling over some melons in a small patch of garden. Kaji wasn't accustomed to telling people about his little pastime. He was sure that even Misato didn't know about his secret garden. Kaji smiled as he finished up watering and tucked the can neatly away to the side of the garden. Kaji smiled, content that he had done his day's work here before reaching for his breast pocket to grab himself a cigarette. He continually gave way to this vice of his but he didn't mind. He had to die somehow and if he died of lung cancer, then so be it. Kaji would be in control of his life as well as how he had ended it if he did hit the bucket from lung cancer. However, he knew that he was a bit young to be succumbing to terminal illnesses.

He heard the screeching of brakes from behind him and Kaji turned to be graced with the welcome sight of Misato's blue Renault Alpine A310. He was even happier to see Misato appear out of the car but he immediately saw that she didn't look happy at all. Her face meant business and it wasn't often Misato greeted Kaji with that expression. "Hey babe," Kaji greeted, trying his luck.

"Hi," Misato said, managing a weak smile for her lover. She even leant forward and gave Kaji a quick kiss on the lips, despite the mood she was in.

Kaji knew that Misato was here on business so he wasted no time. "So, what is it?" he inquired.

"Eva Unit 05," Misato stated. "What do you know about it?"

"Ah, yeah. Eva Unit 05 has been under construction jointly by China and Russia for the past few months," Kaji said. "It's been done under the radar to keep it out of American and British knowledge. The Brits and Yanks don't really get on with both China and Russia, especially after Second Impact and the high threat of nuclear war. If they found out that they were constructing a weapon as powerful as Eva, they would voice their opposition, and quite loudly."

"I see," Misato said. "That explains why I never heard of it until I was told it was being delivered to NERV HQ, here in Tokyo-3."

"Yeah, I heard it was finished." Kaji asked. "It makes sense. If it's finished, then Russia and China can freely deliver to NERV HQ and make it common knowledge. The British and the Americans can't voice their opposition to the construction because it's already finished and they know that the Eva Unit is being transferred here. Pretty smart on the part of the Russians and Chinese."

"I guess that's the international diplomacy all fine and dandy," Misato said. "The thing I don't understand is why we're being given another Eva Unit. We don't need one."

"And another Eva Unit means another pilot, right?" Kaji inquired.

"Exactly," Misato said. "This pilot has no background. Nothing. All I have is a name, a date of birth and a photograph."

"Curious," Kaji said. "Isn't that a bit like Rei Ayanami?"

"Yeah, it is, but I know Rei. Maybe I'm just being paranoid but it all doesn't make sense. We've successfully dispatched all the angels thus far and yet they still send us another Eva Unit and pilot. It's just a hunch, but something doesn't seem right," Misato said.

"I see your point, but you never know. Some of those angel battles were cut pretty close, you know? But I will sniff about for you," Kaji said. "I might even listen in on those old fogies in SEELE."

"Fine," Misato said. "Just don't do anything stupid. I don't want to…I can't even bear thinking about losing you."

"Lady Luck's on my side, babe," Kaji said. "She hasn't let me down yet."

"I'd prefer it if a little more than luck was keeping you alive," Misato said, placing her hand on Kaji's chest and moving in a little closer. As she did, she pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and tossed it away. "And you need to quit doing that as well," Misato said.

"I'll try," Kaji said with a weak laugh.

"Also, nice melons," Misato added.

"Thanks. You have nice melons as well," Kaji said, returning the compliment.

Misato gave the man a playful slap on the shoulder and said, "Don't push your luck, Kaji. You're not getting lucky tonight."

"That's a shame," Kaji said with sad yet sardonic sigh. "Anyway, I shall do your bidding, my lady."

"Thanks a bunch, Kaji," Misato said.

They parted with a kiss that lingered more than Misato would have liked, but savoured anyway. She felt slightly better knowing that Kaji was on the case but she couldn't help but feel apprehensive about receiving the new Unit and the new pilot. Knowing their current circumstances, the new additions would be welcomed almost as overkill for their fight against the angels but it was just the nature of how they were receiving Unit 05 and the lack of background and history on the part of Mr Kaworu Nagisa that had Misato worried. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but when the voice in the back of one's head spoke loud enough, you tended to act on it. Maybe it was just a hunch, woman's intuition even, but it was enough to get her nervous and Misato knew that when she was nervous, especially with things Eva related, it usually was a precursor for bad things to come. She hoped and wished it wouldn't be the case this time though.

* * *

"Today class," said the teacher of class 2A. "We have a special treat." This was the same teacher that gave the class a lecture on cannabis use and had inadvertently become an icon for those who wished to have the drug legalised in Japan for recreational uses. Of course, the teacher tried to keep this under wraps from his pupils but a little thing called the internet made that a little hard. He was still their teacher though and whenever approached about the speech he gave the pupils all that time ago on cannabis use, he denied ever even considering using the drug. This was most odd to the pupils who, after his speech, reckoned he was a passionate advocate. Shinji knew that once he played a prank, they often snowballed out of his control into something even funnier. Being God was good.

"We have a new transfer student joining our class," the teacher. "Come on son, introduce yourself." The new student walked out into view of the class with both hands in his pockets and as soon as he came into view, Shinji knew exactly who he was. He did look different from you average junior high school student with his curious combination of pale skin, red eyes, light grey hair and a face that would look odd if he wasn't smiling. It was an appearance that even caught the passive and indifferent Rei by surprise. She saw that he looked a lot like her. However, it was hardly something she could identify with. It even scared her slightly.

"I am Kaworu Nagisa," the boy said. "I am transferring in from Nagoya and I am very happy to be joining your class."

_A likely story_, Shinji thought.

"Thank you very much, Mr Nagisa," the teacher said. "You may take your seat." Shinji watched as Kaworu walked right by him and sat three rows back and to his left. It was slightly unsettling to think that an angel was in the same room as him. Shinji knew that the time would come where he would have to end his life and that was beginning to unsettle him as well. The fact that this angel took on human appearance was a huge psychological advantage which Shinji didn't like. As well as that, Shinji would be in close contact with Kaworu, being in the same class as him. Furthermore, Kaworu would probably become an Eva pilot as well so Shinji knew that he would be seeing a lot more of him.

Lunchtime came quickly and Shinji found that Kaworu was nowhere to be found. It was odd, because Shinji actually wanted to find him to confront him here and now. Not confront in the sense that he would try and defeat the angel on his own just now, but just to stare him in the eyes and gauge him for what he really was. Shinji was curious about Kaworu more than anything and despite curiosity killing many cats, Shinji knew that he definitely was not a cat. He looked around the hallways of the school and couldn't see Kaworu anywhere. Shinji then decided to search on the roof of the school. It was one of his favourite spots and maybe Kaworu would indulge in it as well.

Sure enough, when Shinji emerged out into the Tokyo-3 sunlight on the rooftop, Kaworu was there, stood looking out over the city with his hands in his pockets. As Shinji moved closer, he heard that he was humming. It was a familiar tune, one known all over the world. It was the Ode to Joy, a German poem put to music in the 4th movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th symphony. It was strange that an angel would be familiar with music. It all just made him seem much more human, disguising what was really underneath that pale skin of his.

"It's a wonderful tune, isn't it?" Kaworu asked, noticing that Shinji was behind him.

"Yes, it is," Shinji said, moving up beside Kaworu.

"Truly wonderful. Music is surely the crowning achievement of the Lilim culture," Kaworu said with the ever present smile on his face.

"If only the same could be said for something of the angels," Shinji said.

"Yes, that is a shame," Kaworu agreed. "The angels only know of one thing and that is to return to Adam." The boy turned his head and looked at Shinji right in the eyes. Shinji was feeling incredibly nervous. He knew Kaworu was an angel, but that knowledge was being contradicted by all of his senses. What he saw and heard just made Kaworu seem like just another human.

"I see that you know that I am an angel," Kaworu noted.

"Yes, I've known for a very long time now," Shinji said.

"You know," Kaworu mused, "this doesn't feel like the first time we've met. I feel like this is a recurring event. Almost like, what do the Lilim of the nation of France call it, déjà vu?"

"Yeah, that's déjà vu. I feel like we've met before as well," Shinji said. "Although when we first met, it didn't end too well for you."

"Yes, I think I feel that way as well. Our paths have crossed before in some distant parallel universe or simply a branch of this one," Kaworu said. "However, when they crossed, only one path could continue. And if I am correct, the one that continued was your own?"

"Yeah, that's right," Shinji said.

"I see," Kaworu said, as if resigning himself to the fact that he would face the same demise.

The two stood in silence for a moment, the sun bearing down on them, unforgiving and unrelenting. Shinji knew that he was fraternising with the enemy, so to speak, but again, Kaworu just seemed too human. It was something Shinji knew that he needed to get past. "I think that fate would transpire against you just like the first time we met," Shinji said, breaking the silence. The bell rang, signalling the end of lunchtime. However, Shinji didn't move an inch. As he stood there, Kaworu turned to face Shinji once again and said, "You see, that is where our opinions differ. I think this time events will transpire much differently." With that, Kaworu smiled and walked away. Shinji remained on the roof, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. It was eerie that Kaworu seemed to remember their encounter before God sent Shinji back in time with all his powers. Maybe the angels were aware of the existence of a God, or maybe it was just Kaworu. Regardless, Shinji was still uncomfortable with the situation and he didn't know what to do about it.

* * *

Ritsuko was sitting behind her computer, analysing data and being the workaholic that she was. And she had a lot to work on. In the last few Eva battles, Shinji, Asuka and Rei somehow managed to build up incredibly powerful AT fields that were beyond the known capabilities of any Eva Unit in existence. It wasn't that it was impossible for an Eva to exceed its expected abilities; to the contrary, NERV hoped that the Evas performed beyond projected capabilities. However, it was the manner in which the Evas outperformed expectations that had Ritsuko intrigued. Each of them seemed to build up an AT Field that found its origins within the Eva itself. Usually, AT Fields would only exist on the outside of the Eva and were formed in the space in the outside of the Evas.

Ritsuko was studying all the data to see if she could find anything interesting about these special AT Fields that were immensely powerful yet developed internally, 'super' AT Fields if you will. She was looking for anything. Links, anomalies, anything that would be significant in a scientific context. Of course, she didn't have to do this. She could be doing what Misato was currently doing and that was playing computer games, but Ritsuko wasn't like that. She worked, got stressed, smoked, got less stressed and worked some more. That was the name of the game for Ritsuko.

Ritsuko was currently cross analysing the AT Fields from each separate battle against each other and immediately caught something. Each AT Field seemed to have exactly the same waveform, which left Ritsuko room to investigate. She was fairly certain that each Eva possessed its own unique AT Field waveform so this was already an anomaly. She compared the field against the known fields of each Eva Unit in active service with NERV and found no matches. As well as this, she found that the compositions of the internal 'super' AT-Fields varied from known AT-Fields just enough as to be significant. This was incredibly intriguing for the scientist who hadn't done anything interesting in ages and wondered where this would all lead.

She continued to scrutinise the data and began to see a worrying picture develop. From the composition and waveform of the internal 'super' AT Fields and with the help of the incredible processing power of the MAGI supercomputers, Ritsuko was beginning to see a recurring pattern in the 'super' AT field, namely that of human DNA. This was unprecedented. She began to furiously jot down notes as she continued her analysis. She began studying the DNA pattern itself and confirmed that it was indeed, human DNA. Next, she began comparing the DNA to the known DNA of the four Eva pilots. She instantly received a one hundred percent match to that of one of their pilots; Shinji Ikari.

"This is very strange," Ritsuko mused aloud. This raised many question in her mind. Firstly, how is an AT Field that was somehow imprinted with Shinji's DNA produced by Asuka and Rei? Secondly, how is it so powerful? Thirdly, how was it produced internally? Finally and maybe the most crucial of all, how can AT Fields contain anything remotely human? As far as Ritsuko knew, humans could not produce an AT Field and if they could, they certainly wouldn't be as strong as the AT Fields Evas and angels produced, never mind these 'super' AT fields. She doubled checked that the field wasn't that of Unit 01's and found that there was a nil match between the two. That ruled out the field being produced by Unit 01. At the same time, there was no way Shinji could have produced an AT field. It just wasn't possible, not even theoretically.

Feeling that her brain was being taxed enough, Ritsuko inputted the data into the MAGI for an evaluation. If she was lucky, she would get about twenty possible evaluations. If she was unlucky, she would get well into the millions, which would be impossible to sift through manually and it would render the MAGI's evaluation nullified anyway. Ritsuko finished typing and snapped the enter key down, waiting for a response. It could take several minutes, depending on whether the three supercomputers debated the evaluations. However, she received her answer almost instantly from the data and it had also been a unanimous decision by the MAGI, which was a pleasant surprise. There was also only one evaluation, which was even better.

Ritsuko eagerly pressed herself close to the screen to read what the MAGI had to say on the issue. As soon as she did, she gasped and shunted herself backwards, away from the screen, knocking her mug of coffee over. She sat their, in intense shock from what she had read. She rubbed her eyes, trying to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She had been on the go for many hours straight. However, there was no denying what was written on the screen as the MAGI's unanimous and single evaluation on the data Ritsuko had inputted of the issue. She slowly moved her chair forward towards the screen to once again read what was written:

* * *

-Data input SUCCESSFUL

-Processing…please wait…

…

-MAGI MELCHIOR, BALTHASAR and CASPER have reached a UNANIMOUS decision

-MAGI have established 1 evaluation on inputted data

…

-Pilot SHINJI IKARI has been classified as the 17TH ANGEL

-Would you like to see the recommended course of action? Y/N

* * *

Ritsuko struggled to read through it all once more and simply refused to believe it. She wanted to believe that the MAGI was having a glitch and spurting out rubbish. She wanted to believe that she had inputted the data wrong. However, she read though what she had typed and found it all to be right. And the MAGI were quick and decisive to reply, which meant that these three supercomputers found no other possibilities from the situation. Ritsuko slowly moved her hand up to the keyboard and depressed the Y key, knowing exactly what the MAGI would recommend.

* * *

-Y

-Processing...please wait...

…

-Recommended course of action: DESTROY 17TH ANGEL

* * *

Ritsuko back off again, horrified at the predictions of the machine. Misato then began to add more data to evaluate, including the fact that Shinji had fought on their side for this whole time and never even attempted to do what any of the other angels had done. However, the outcome was the same. Ritsuko was stunned beyond the furthest stretch of the imagination. She just couldn't believe any of it. She hesitantly went to print the MAGI's evaluation along with her inputted data and ran off to the commanders, hoping that they wouldn't believe this either and say that the MAGI are just simply wrong.

Ritsuko handed the information over to Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki and Commander Ikari. Fuyutsuki visibly winced as he read it while Gendo's face remained stoic. "Is this the only conclusion the MAGI came to?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Yes sir," Ritsuko replied. "I tried other variations of the input data but it all came out the same."

"I can't believe this…surely this can't be true?" Fuyutsuki said.

"Then again, the MAGI have never been wrong," Gendo pointed out.

"Regrettably, that is true," Fuyutsuki agreed.

"Then what are we to do, commander?" Ritsuko asked.

"What do the MAGI recommend?" Gendo inquired back.

"The same thing they always recommend when we discover an angel," Ritsuko replied.

"I see," Gendo said.

Ritsuko stood in front of the two men, waiting for an order, a plan of action, anything to try and slow the pace of her mind right now because it was currently running on overdrive. Gendo pushed his glasses up to his face before saying, "Bring all the pilots in. Call it a regular synch test. When pilot Ikari arrives, apprehend him and perform all the necessary tests that will either prove or disprove the MAGI's conjecture. If pilot Ikari is truly the 17th angel…then we have no choice but to do what the MAGI recommends," Gendo said, although it sounded like his voice was cracking up. Fuyutsuki saw that even Gendo was struggling to possibly give the order to kill his own son. He couldn't say the words, 'destroy the target', instead choosing circumlocution. _Maybe there's a heart left in there, somewhere_, Fuyutsuki thought.

"Yes sir," Ritsuko said. "What about the dangers posed if he really is the 17th angel?"

"It is a risk we have to take," Gendo replied. "We cannot kill one of our own pilots without being really sure."

"Yes sir," Ritsuko responded.

"And keep the penguins out of it," Gendo added.

"Excuse me sir?" Ritsuko asked in sudden surprise.

"It's nothing. Just go," Fuyutsuki ordered. Ritsuko left, feeling slightly strange after hearing the commander randomly reference penguins. Maybe he really was going mad. Whatever the case, Ritsuko had much bigger fish to fry.

* * *

Misato stood there, reading the MAGI's evaluation. She frowned deeply, but said nothing. "Can you do it then?" Ritsuko asked. "He trusts you."

"Yes," Misato said quietly. "I'll apprehend him and bring him to you." Misato couldn't look Ritsuko in the eye when she said that. The blonde doctor knew that this was all incredibly difficult for Misato to bear but was surprised that Misato was taking it all on the chin. She always thought Misato was one to let her emotions influence her judgement but not today it seemed. "Thank you, Misato," Ritsuko said. "I'm sorry you've had to do this. I know it must be hard for you."

"Tell me…what will you do with him once I hand him over?" Misato asked.

"I'll have to perform a lot of tests, to make check if the MAGI are right," Ritsuko said, "and hope that it's wrong."

"Okay," Misato said. Ritsuko nodded and head off, leaving Misato the daunting task of trying to take in a supposed angel.

Misato waited at the gates and saw Asuka, Rei and Toji all arrive together. "Hey Misato," Asuka said.

"Hey Asuka," the woman greeted. "Where's Shinji?"

"Oh? He'll be here any second," Asuka said.

"Using the little boy's room," Toji explained.

"Ah," Misato said with a weak laugh. "That's fine. You guys run on in now and get ready."

"Sure thing," Asuka said before heading off with Rei and Toji.

Misato watched them disappear away into NERV headquarters, leaving her with just Shinji to deal with. She was glad that he was coming alone, so that she wouldn't have to apprehend him in front of his fellow pilots and friends. She was feeling her throat dry up and her heart rate increase. She didn't believe the MAGI for one second, yet they have never been wrong. However, Misato was just wishing that they were wrong. Misato wanted them to be wrong. If they were wrong, then all this would disappear and they could get on with life as normal. Then, Misato heard the gate in front of her opening. As it did, she was sure her heart missed a beat.

"Ah, hey there Misato," Shinji greeted, entering NERV HQ.

"Hi Shinji," Misato said. "Listen…Shinji…" It was then Misato couldn't take any more of it. Her head dropped and she suddenly was fighting a losing battle against her tears. "Misato? You're crying," Shinji said, suddenly worried. "What's wrong?" Misato stretched her arm out and placed it on Shinji's shoulder. "Shinji…the MAGI…they say that you are the 17th angel," Misato said.

"What?! Why the hell are they saying that?!" Shinji cried.

"Shinji, shut up! Just tell me one thing, and swear on your goddamn life that you are telling the truth!" Misato yelled through her tears. "Are you an angel Shinji? Have you deceived us all this time, or are you just Shinji?"

"I'm me! I'm Shinji! I'm not an angel, I swear Misato!" Shinji said.

Misato's head went down again and the tears began to drip onto the ground in front of her. She sniffed and said, "Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course! There's no way that I am an angel!" Shinji said.

Misato looked up and straight into Shinji's eyes and said, "Then run, Shinji, as fast as you can. Take the emergency exit. Run as far from NERV as you can."

"Run?! Where to?!" Shinji asked frantically.

"Away from this place! Anywhere but here! Run, Shinji, just run!" Misato said before shoving Shinji toward the emergency exit just adjacent the gate. Shinji was about to leave when he looked back at Misato once more. "Shinji…I swear, when we see each other again, this whole mess will be cleared up," Misato said. "Now go!" Shinji wasted not time and started running off and away, leaving Misato alone with her tears. She collapsed down to her knees and let her tears flow freely.

* * *

It was at least ten minutes before anybody at NERV caught on that Shinji was nowhere to be seen. "Security camera footage shows Shinji escaped through one of the emergency exits!" Ritsuko cried. "And it looks like Major Katsuragi told him to run!"

"Have Major Katsuragi arrested and detained immediately," Gendo ordered. "Launch Eva Units 00, 02 and 03 to find pilot Ikari. Set the intelligence section out as well to start a manhunt. We must take pilot Ikari."

"Alive?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yes, unless circumstances do not allow this," Gendo said. "Keep it out of public knowledge as well."

"Yes sir," Ritsuko said. The doctor disappeared while the two commanders remained in their office. "Do you truly believe that your own flesh and blood is the 17th angel?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"We…we cannot take any chances," Gendo said.

"I'll take your avoidance of the question as a no," Fuyutsuki said.

* * *

"WHAT?!" Asuka screamed.

"That's what the MAGI say from recently acquired data," Ritsuko explained.

"I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT!" Asuka said. "There is no way in a million years that Shinji is an angel! No, no, no, no, NO!"

"I'm with Asuka on this one," Toji said. "How can we believe a computer?"

"It's never been wrong before," Ritsuko said. "I know it's hard to take, but all we need to do is to find him and take him alive. That way, we can really find out whether he is an angel or not."

"There is…no way," Asuka said.

It was then that commander Ikari appeared in front of the three pilots. "Anybody refusing to pilot will be arrested and detained, just liked Major Katsuragi," he said.

"Misato…she's been arrested?!" Asuka cried.

"She disobeyed a direct order and allowed pilot Ikari to escape," Gendo said. "All that is required of you pilots is to find him so that we can take him alive. That is all."

"That is all?! THAT IS ALL?! Do you have any idea what you are asking us to do?!" Asuka cried.

"I am perfectly aware of what I am asking. I also recommend that you watch your tone, pilot Sohryu," Gendo said tersely.

"Argh…I can't believe what you are making us do!" Asuka said.

"We must make sure that any angel threat is taken care of accordingly," Gendo explained. "Circumstances are exceptional in this case."

"Whatever," Asuka said bitterly. "If you just want us to find him, then we'll do it. All on the condition that you don't hurt him."

"You are in no position to make demands," Gendo said.

"I don't care. If you so much as hurt him just a little bit, then I swear, I will make sure to hurt you so much more and make your life a misery," Asuka threatened before storming off with Toji and Rei. The three went towards their Evas very reluctantly while Gendo felt like he was losing a grip of reality, his command and his sanity all at once. This was pushing him perilously close to the edge and Gendo knew he couldn't afford to go over.

* * *

Shinji had managed to make it out onto the streets of Tokyo-3, running as fast as his body and mind allowed him too. As he ran, thoughts were screaming in his head. Why did they think he was an angel? And what were they going to do about it? Shinji rushed through the late afternoon crowds in the city centre, trying to put some distance between himself and NERV. He fully heeded Misato's warning and looked to get himself out of the city. He could have used his powers, but as he was currently suspected of being an angel, he decided against using his powers as they might further arouse those suspicions.

Shinji headed for the train station and boarded the next train to get him out of the city. It got moving, only to stop a mile down the line. "This is a citywide broadcast. All city activities are to cease as Evangelion Units are being launched, I repeat, all city activities are to cease as Evangelion Units are being launched. All citizens are to head to the nearest designated shelter, I repeat, all citizens are to head to the nearest designated shelter," said a voice over the intercom.

"This is the driver of this train. Due to the launch of the Evangelion Units, we have stopped and all passengers are requested to disembark and head to the nearest shelter. Thank you for your cooperation and apologies for any inconvenience," said the train driver over the intercom. As soon as the doors opened, Shinji bolted out and headed in the opposite direction of the rest of the passengers out towards the hills. As he ran, Shinji looked back and saw Eva Units 00, 02 and 03 appear from underground. That only encouraged him to run even faster.

* * *

Kaworu stood on top of a hill that overlooked Tokyo-3. He saw the commotion ensue down in the city and said, "Yes, I thought things would be different this time. Very different indeed."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

Shinji continued to make his way up into the hills surrounding Tokyo-3. He had put some fair distance between himself and the city but with the sudden launch of the Eva Units, he was at a great disadvantage. Shinji was also trying to prove that he wasn't really an angel so using his powers seemed like a bad idea, however appealing it may have been. There was no guarantee that they would work either, as this may be the work of those rogue forces, sometimes generalised as fate, which had often come into play during Shinji's moments of crisis. Among them all, Shinji reckoned that this was the worst of them all because his neck was very directly at line here from the people he had fought to protect. It seemed that many of those back at NERV were reluctant to go after him, Misato especially so, and due to this Shinji assumed that the basis of their belief that he was the 17th Angel wasn't so strong. However, it was strong enough that they wanted to get him and Shinji wasn't so sure whether it was dead or alive. The launch of the Eva Units leaned heavily towards the former.

Shinji found himself tiring easily on the steep, grassy hills. The heat of the day didn't help and Shinji found the sweat beginning to soak the white shirt that he always seemed to wear. Without pain, there was no game, and Shinji had to grit his teeth as he went along. He did use his powers ever so slightly, to relieve the aching in his knees and to provide him with that extra little bit of stamina. However, he had to keep himself from using them any more than that. It was very difficult however because as he made one step, the Eva Units in search made up fifty of his steps. The steep hills will be no quarrel for the Evas either. Everything was going against the teenage god. There seemed to be no end in sight.

Unless he found the real 17th Angel.

If Shinji found Kaworu Nagisa, then the game would be up and NERV would know who the real angel was. The trouble lay in finding Kaworu, especially since Shinji was on the run from three giant robots and probably most of NERV's intelligence section. As well as that, Kaworu could be absolutely anywhere. Shinji didn't know where to begin and his priorities were already set to escaping and surviving. NERV was going to great lengths in trying to apprehend Shinji but he was sure that there was some doubt among them. Shinji hoped that they doubted, like Misato had done so that he got at least a chance of getting away. Shinji was going as far as hoping that even his father would doubt the claim that he was the 17th angel.

"You've sure got yourself up a certain creek without a paddle on this one, Shinji." He turned to the source of the voice and saw God, walking beside him. And the strange thing was, Shinji was running and God was walking. "Uh, nice trick you got going there," Shinji said.

"Thanks," God said. "I'm a bit old so I'll walk whenever I can get the chance. What I want to know is how you pulled this off."

"I was going to ask you the same thing, or more so, how this is happening! I go into NERV thinking I've got a synch test to do and all of a sudden, I'm the 17th angel!" Shinji exclaimed. He then had to look away for a moment. With him running and God walking at seemingly the same speed, it was all beginning to mess with his head.

"So, it does seem you are in a bit of trouble," God said. "My question is; how are you going to get out of it?"

"I'm currently working on that," Shinji replied.

"I'm sorry that I can't be of more use. I can't say that this is a situation I'm been in before," God added with a chuckle.

"I don't blame you either," Shinji said.

"And using your powers won't work because that might prove in the eyes of some that you really are the 17th Angel," God noted.

"Exactly. Now you can see why things are hard for me. And confusing. I don't even know why they think that I am the 17th Angel," Shinji said as he huffed and puffed. He was running uphill in both senses of the phrase.

.God was still strolling uphill. "So Shinji, the next time I see you, this problem will be solved and things will be slightly easier for you?" He inquired.

"Hopefully," Shinji replied. "If not, then you can know that I gave it my best shot."

"You know, there is still the option of going back to before I gave you the God powers. You will have no memories of any of this happening and you'll be back to how you were after you just killed the 17th Angel," God said.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I kind of like this new reality. There are obviously some new challenges, but I think I'll manage somehow," Shinji said.

"Good to hear, Shinji, good to hear. Anyway, I've got to get back to Bombay. Splendid place, it is. Would you like to join me?"

"I wish!"

"Haha! You're picking up that sense of humour us old omnipotent all powerful fogeys have," God said with a laugh. "I'm immensely proud of you Shinji. You did good."

"There's more good to be done!" Shinji said.

"That is true. I shall leave you to it, Shinji, The best of luck to you son."

And with that, God disappeared, leaving Shinji on his own running once more. God may have said that he couldn't help but he had done immeasurably. Shinji was a lot calmer now and could think clearer because of God's happy and carefree attitude. And when God wishes you luck, you would generally think that things will go in your favour. With that in mind, Shinji found a new focus as he put more distance between him and NERV as well as finding Kaworu and putting an end to what could only be described as a mess.

As Shinji continued through into the hills, he heard a very loud noise coming from straight behind him that could have only been made by one thing. "Oh no," Shinji said as he turned around. And there, barely metres away from him, was the blue and white Evangelion Unit 00. Shinji tried to escape but the giant hand of Unit 00 caught him before he could even move. And there and then, Shinji felt like it was all over. He had tried his best to get away but the sheer size of the Evangelions and the ground they could cover always put him at a disadvantage. He felt himself being lifted and soon, he was staring right at the one eye of Unit 00, feeling pretty small and insignificant at the moment.

* * *

"Well done Rei," Gendo said from his perch. "Now, bring him back to NERV."

"Yes sir," Rei replied softly.

"All units stand down," Ritsuko ordered. "Unit 00 has him."

"Rei…she caught him?" Asuka asked. "Is he…okay?"

"He's unharmed," Ritsuko replied. "Come on Rei. Return to HQ."

Rei sat inside the entry plug and the LCL was feeling pretty cold at the moment. She saw Shinji's face from where she was. He looked terrified. They said he was an angel. Angel's weren't meant to display their emotions. It was doubtful whether angels had emotions or not. Shinji here was meant to be the 17th angel. If he was, then why wasn't he fighting back? Why wasn't he trying to defend himself? None of it made sense. It defied logic. At first, Rei was just following orders. Now, her orders were to bring Shinji back alive, possibly to meet his demise at the hands of NERV. Rei couldn't be part of that. She couldn't let herself. In her hands was a person, not the 17th Angel. She decided that she didn't care what the MAGI said.

"Shinji," Rei said over her Eva's loudspeaker, "go, run. I do not believe you are the 17th angel." She placed Shinji down on the ground in front of her and released him. Shinji looked shaken but was unhurt from being in Unit 00's hands. Shinji then looked up towards her and he managed a smile before running off again. "Rei?! What are you doing?!" Gendo cried.

"I refuse to be part of this operation," Rei said.

"Refusing to obey orders is an offence under military law! You know that Rei!" Gendo cried.

"I know," Rei said. "But I will not be part of this anymore."

"Increase the LCL pressure to maximum," Gendo ordered.

"But sir…" Maya said.

"Do it. Now," Gendo interjected. Maya frowned before doing as she was told. They watched as Rei was subjected to the LCL bearing down on her with unbelievable force. "Now eject the entry plug. Send units to recover and place her immediately under arrest," Gendo ordered next.

"Yes sir," Maya said quietly, unhappy with the situation.

"What the hell is going on?!" Asuka cried. "Why is Wondergirl ejecting?"

"The 17th Angel neutralised Unit 00," Gendo replied. "You must capture the angel."

"No way…Shinji didn't…Shinji wouldn't do that!" Asuka cried.

"I'm with Asuka on this one," Toji said.

"Unit 00 has been neutralised by the angel. You cannot deny that," Gendo said. "Capture the angel unless you want to end up like pilot Ayanami."

"Arrrgh! FINE!" Asuka cried. She then cut off the comm. link, just to show her displeasure. Gendo sat with his face stoic and unmoving as ever despite an incredibly disapproving look from Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki. "Are you sure that deceiving the pilots is the right thing to do?" Fuyutsuki inquired.

"One rotten apple can ruin the entire bunch," Gendo stated. "It was necessary to cover up Rei's subordination to prevent a full scale mutiny from the remaining two pilots."

"You are really treading on thin ice on this one, Ikari," Fuyutsuki said. To that, he received no reply from the commander.

* * *

Shinji couldn't believe what he just went through. At first, he thought that he really was done for, caught inside the hand of Unit 00. His fear was short-lived however as Rei saw fit to release him regardless of the obvious orders she had to capture him. He wondered whether this was the work of some higher power or whether Rei suddenly had a change of heart. Considering how fate seemed to treat Shinji lately, he was leaning towards the later. Despite the fact that Shinji was free again, he didn't rule out the possibility of another incident such as the one he had just experienced. Shinji also knew that he needed to pay a lot more attention because he let something as enormous as an Evangelion sneak up on him!

As he continued further and further from Tokyo-3, Shinji felt the searing heat begin to dissipate as the sun began to sink below the horizon. It was getting dark and that was good news for Shinji. If it was dark, it would be harder to see him and that was always good. _Wait, _Shinji thought, _the Evas have infrared scanners! Damn it, there's no hiding from them!_ Suddenly, the fact that it was getting dark was no longer so appealing to Shinji.In fact, it may even put him at a further disadvantage because he couldn't see where he was going and the Evas could. Nothing seemed to be going Shinji's way at all. Shinji felt liked he was running a marathon where first prize was his life. He couldn't bare thinking about what would happen if he was to lose this race. He never thought that all the fun he had with his powers would come down to something like this.

He remembered all the times when Shinji would be walking to school on his own. It always seemed to rain when Shinji walked on his own and he always used his power to brighten up his mood, either by playing a prank or helping somebody else. Yes, that was right. As well as playing pranks, Shinji did the odd good deed just so that his powers weren't always used to his benefit. He would always make sure to help an old lady or somebody who looked down and depressed. It made Shinji feel happy as well. That was just when he was walking about Tokyo-3, either making his way somewhere or just enjoyed a walk outside.

Then there were the times where he would just be sitting on the sofa with his arm wrapped around Asuka's shoulder. They would be looking out at the night sky from where they say and Shinji always made the moon and the stars just shine that bit brighter for the two of them. The two would then kiss in the moment, just so fully in love with each other. Shinji felt safe in the knowledge that it wasn't his powers that made Asuka fall in love with him. They may have helped to add just make situations more romantic, like Marvin Gaye mysteriously beginning to play out of the blue but Shinji knew that in the end, Asuka loved him as Shinji, not as an all powerful teenage God.

As Shinji watched the sun finally disappear from view, he wondered whether it was as bad as he currently thought. Looking back, Shinji had been in situations most probably as bad as this one and he managed to pull through okay. This time was a little different in that the people he trusted where the ones trying to get him, but Shinji knew that he could somehow convince them that he wasn't the 17th angel. Some of them didn't need any convincing. Both Misato and Rei both firmly believed that he wasn't. Shinji wondered about Asuka and Toji. Surely they wouldn't believe it either? Maybe they didn't have the full story. Shinji didn't even have the full story. He was sure that both Asuka and Toji would be easily convinced otherwise. Once he could get them on his side, then he stood a chance.

* * *

"Nightfall," Fuyutsuki commented. "Shinji has evaded capture for nearly three hours now."

"He would have been here had Rei simply followed her orders," Gendo said irately.

"She definitely chose quite a time to disobey them," Fuyutsuki said, not bothering to hide the smirk that was present on his face.

"That is regrettable," Gendo said. "She was the last person I expected to do that."

"I thought you would have learned to expect the unexpected," Fuyutsuki said. "It's only the old men in SEELE who think everything is set in stone." Gendo didn't grace the deputy commander with a reply, instead staring ahead of him, deep in thought. Fuyutsuki smiled again, wondering what was going on in the head of the commander.

* * *

Down a level, Ritsuko ran her hand roughly through her hair, full of indecision. Shinji had so far proved elusive apart from Rei nearly capturing him. It was the fact that she still found it difficult to believe the MAGI's decision that Shinji Ikari was the 17th angel. Sure, if he wasn't the angel, then maybe he wouldn't have run from them. Then again, he is really was the angel, then maybe he would have fought back. When Rei had Shinji in Unit 00's hand, he did nothing to resist, maybe because there was nothing he could do. What also unsettled Ritsuko was the fact that both Misato and Rei both flatly refused to believe that Shinji was the angel, both at times when they were in a position to capture him. They were also still hiding the fact that Rei disobeyed orders from both of the other pilots who were still searching for Shinji.

Ritsuko glanced over at the three senior most computer technicians of NERV and all three of them look uncertain with every keystroke on their keyboards. It was likely that they didn't believe that Shinji wasn't the angel either and were just following orders. They had already seen two people disobey those orders however and Ritsuko just wondered whether they would be among the next to go against the commander's orders. They didn't look too determined. During other angel encounters, you could tell from the looks on their faces that they wanted to help save the world from the onslaught of the angels. Now they all looked uneasy and unsure. That wasn't just Maya, Makoto and Shigeru either. If you looked at any of the NERV staff, they all had that same look on their faces.

Ritsuko heard that the intelligence service was struggling to get anything on Shinji. The majority of them had now left the city limits and once out, their search area expand so much that they were struggling to think where to begin. From their latest report and Shinji's last sighting, they had a better idea of where he was and where he would be in so many hours. However, nothing was fixed and Shinji could have turned and headed back inside the city for all they knew. In fact, if he had headed back into the city, that made things even worse for them. "We have a helicopter with a searchlight launched," Makoto reported.

"Very well," Ritsuko said.

"Doctor," Makoto added, "why is the commander hiding the fact that Rei has been arrested?"

Ritsuko frowned. She should have expected this kind of question to pop up. "I think he's afraid that the other two pilots will do the same," Ritsuko said. "Nobody is really sure what to believe right now." Makoto didn't say anything else but went back to his work. Maybe it wasn't the answer that Ritsuko should have given. Maybe she should have continued to keep up the illusion that the commander was trying to create. But in the end, it would be fruitless because she knew that she would only be lying to Makoto as well as to herself. She wanted to find Shinji, yet at the same time, she wanted some miracle to happen that would suddenly disprove that Shinji was the 17th Angel. This was the most uncertain Ritsuko felt about anything recently. And it was starting to get at her.

* * *

"Here's the latest report from the Intelligence Section," Fuyutsuki said, handing over his PDA to the commander.

"Very well," Gendo said, taking a look. It was nothing new. They had just extended their search radius and backtracking every now and then just to make sure that they hadn't missed anything. "The sooner they find him, the quicker we can ascertain the truth," Gendo said.

"And the quicker we may possibly end your son's life," Fuyutsuki added. This quickly silenced Gendo, who Fuyutsuki heard swallowing hard. Fuyutsuki was just making sure that Gendo was aware of all the possible outcomes of this little predicament. "Tell the Intelligence Section to keep us posted," Gendo said before handing the PDA back to the deputy commander.

"Evening commanders," said Kaji, who appeared suddenly behind the two of them.

"Ah! Kaji, how the hell did you get there?!" Fuyutsuki exclaimed.

"I walked," Kaji replied. "Anyway, where's Misato? I've been looking all over for her."

"In detention cell #1," Gendo replied. "Which means you won't be seeing her."

"Haha, I always thought she would be the type to end up in the slammer at least once in her life," Kaji said with a chuckle.

"What do you want here, anyway?" Fuyutsuki inquired. "We are very busy at the moment."

"I was just going to deliver a very important and interesting message to Misato but since I can't see her, I just might have to keep it to myself," Kaji said with a wry grin.

Gendo and Kozo both turned to face Kaji with raised eyebrows. "You couldn't think you could tell us?" Gendo asked.

"Well, I don't know. It was meant for Misato after all…"

"Name your price," Gendo snapped.

"You release all of the penguins back into NERV. I liked them there," Kaji said instantly.

"Fine," Fuyutsuki replied.

"WAIT, NO!!!" Gendo cried, attracting the attention of all in Central Dogma. An uneasy silence followed with all eyes focused strongly and directly on the commander. The silence was broken by Kaji breaking out into a laugh.

"Well, I guess I won't be sharing my little secret then, will I?" he said.

"No, wait," Gendo said, his throat drying up while he himself was heavily perspiring. "I'll…I'll…I'll do it."

"Do what?" Kaji inquired with a smug smile on his face.

"Release…release the penguins," Gendo said.

"That's right," Kaji said. "So, I want to see the order given for the release of the penguins before I let you know what information I possess."

"Very well," Gendo said who was in a cold sweat. "Fuyutsuki…give the order."

"Fine," Fuyutsuki said before turning to Ritsuko. "Have all the penguins released."

As soon as he said that, Gendo gasped for air.

"Release the penguins?" Ritsuko asked. "Why?"

"Just do it," Fuyutsuki ordered

"Well, okay," Ritsuko said before typing in the appropriate command into her console.

From far away, deep inside NERV, they could hear to voices of thousands of penguins squawking. Gendo coughed violently, barely keeping himself on his seat. "That's better. Penguins are wonderful creatures, wouldn't you agree?" Kaji asked.

"Yes…" Gendo spluttered. "Now, keep your end of the bargain."

"Fine," Kaji said. "You are aware of the planned arrival of the Fifth Child, correct?"

"Yes, we were," Fuyutsuki said, seeing that Gendo was barely in a state to speak.

"Well, you will be glad to know that he was sent to you directly by SEELE," Kaji said.

Suddenly, Gendo forgot all about the penguins for a moment. "What?" he asked.

"SEELE picked and sent the Fifth Child directly to you," Kaji stated once more.

"Right," Gendo said. He then went straight for the phone in his drawer and pressed on of the buttons on it before pressing it onto his ear. "It is the commander here…yes. Free Major Katsuragi and Pilot Ayanami." Gendo then placed the phone away and faced both Kaji and Fuyutsuki. "What was that all about?" Fuyutsuki inquired.

"I fear," Gendo said, "that we may have been mistaken about the identity of the 17th Angel."

* * *

"I can't believe we're still doing this," Asuka muttered over her private communication link with the pilot of Unit 03.

"Something fishy is going on as well," Toji added. "If Shinji really took out Rei, then why is he still running and not fighting?"

"Because he isn't the angel," Asuka said. "I still won't believe it. We're just following goddamn orders now!" The two continued to check their infrared scanners, hoping really that they wouldn't come across Shinji. It was turning out to be a very long night and neither felt like being where they were. "I just won't believe it," Asuka said quietly.

"You guys are pretty tight together, huh?" Toji asked.

"I guess so," Asuka said. "I just never expected this. Not to Shinji. He doesn't deserve anything like this."

"That's true," Toji said.

"I mean, we spent so much time together," Asuka continued. "I know him. I know everything about him. Shinji and I…we shared our deepest, darkest secrets to each other when we were alone together on some dark night. There is no way that he's an angel. There is no way that the person I love…is an angel."

"You're in love with him?" Toji asked.

"Yeah," Asuka said. "I don't really know why I'm sharing this with you, but yeah, I'm in love with him. You can kind of understand what I'm going through right now."

"He's my friend. It's not love, but yeah, I can kind of understand," Toji said.

Asuka then leaned forward in her plug and out of the blue, began laughing at what Toji just said. Toji soon joined her and all of a sudden, both of them were laughing, audible only to each other over the communication link. "You know," Asuka said, "maybe you're not such a numbskull after all."

"And you're not the red devil like me and Kensuke always thought," Toji added.

"I'm glad," Asuka said.

"Friends?" Toji asked.

"Only because you're Hikari's boyfriend, yes," Asuka replied. Toji chuckled, feeling that something good came out of this.

Suddenly, the link between them and NERV was opened. And it was Misato on the other end of the line. "Misato?" Asuka asked. "I thought you had been arrested."

"I've just been released," Misato stated. "I've taken over command of this operation and I'm also giving you two an update on the new situation. We've received new information and now the MAGI have downplayed the possibility that Shinji is the 17th Angel. The possibility is there but the MAGI aren't 100 percent on this like they were before. Also, there is also the possibility that somebody else is the 17th Angel. Somebody you know."

"Somebody we know?" Toji asked.

"Yes," Misato said. "Kaworu Nagisa, who recently transferred to your class. There's a good possibility that he is the 17th Angel as well."

"So we're looking for two people?" Asuka asked.

"If it were up to me, I would leave Shinji out it all completely but that's not for me to decide," Misato replied. "So essentially, yes, you are looking for two people."

This was new hope for Asuka. It just vindicated in her mind that Shinji wasn't who NERV said he was. Misato didn't believe that Shinji was an angel and that helped as well. "Oh and also, Unit 00 wasn't disabled by Shinji. Rei let him go," Misato added.

"What? Rei let him go?" Asuka said.

"Yes, she let him go. She didn't believe he was really an angel. Because she disobeyed orders, she was forcefully ejected from her entry plug and arrested. Just something for you to know," Misato explained.

"So…the commander lied to us?" Toji asked.

"Yes," Misato replied. "I know you don't believe Shinji is the angel. Rei didn't either."

"Damn," Asuka said. "Something definitely isn't right here."

"Well, maybe that Kaworu guy is the real 17th Angel," Toji said.

"I will be very, very glad if that is the case," Asuka said. "Although if he's in human form, no angel's ever been like that before."

"Assuming he is the real angel," Toji added, just making sure that they didn't jump to any conclusions. Asuka frowned, unseen by Toji or anyone else. There were so many possibilities and possible outcomes to this. She only hoped for one.

* * *

Shinji found himself on a main road. The area was lit by the lampposts that ran alongside the road. It was not a good place for Shinji to be but he was only here momentarily so he could get around this hill quicker. As he hurried along, he saw a place that he hadn't seen in months. He remembered when he first came to Tokyo-3; Misato stopped her car here and showed him the city rising up from underground. Shinji walked up to the wall and looked out toward the city of Tokyo-3. It was deadly quiet. All the citizens were in shelters because Shinji was apparently a threat to all of their safety. _Well, with my powers, I could be a threat, _Shinji mused in his mind. _I could bring a plague upon them of biblical proportions. Or a flood. I'm torn between a flood or a plague. Either way, the city would feel my wrath. Now, I'm not going to do that, so I don't think the people down there have anything to worry about. I wonder what made everyone back at NERV think I was the 17__th__ Angel anyway. _

"Ah, so you made it," said a voice Shinji had grown to know so well. Shinji looked to his right and there stood Kaworu Nagisa. It took Shinji slightly by surprise, because Kaworu had come to him instead of Shinji finding him. "I made it? Were you expecting me?" Shinji asked.

"I just had a feeling that you would be here," Kaworu said with a smile. "Look at the city. The Lilim hide underground, fearing death. The Lilim fear the unknown. Death is something so incomprehensible to them, hence why they fear it."

"Sometimes, fear of death goes right out of the window," Shinji said.

"Right out of the window? I'm not too familiar with that expression," Kaworu chuckled.

"Well, sometimes the fear of death is abandoned because of something else, or a pressing situation," Shinji explained.

"There are times you do not fear death? Like when?" Kaworu inquired.

"It happens a lot in war. In fact, it almost always happens during some sort of conflict," Shinji replied. "A soldier could give his life for his comrade, not fearing for his own life, but the life of another. He puts his life before the life of another."

"So, for the sake of camaraderie then?" Kaworu inquired. "Hardly seems something to lose your life over."

"You don't really understand, do you? The concept of bravery, courage, selflessness?" Shinji said.

"Well, it makes sense to let someone else die when you can live," Kaworu said. "Self preservation. Is that not how the Lilim have survived so long?"

"It makes sense when you're standing here on a still night when nothing is going on. Well, I digress, something huge is going on but apart from that, all is calm, right? Things are different when you're in a situation where you don't have any time to think. You can only do. People have given their lives for their comrades in combat. Even in death, they are remembered as a selfless hero. You have to understand, the human mind can often place the life of another above their own in that kind of situation. Even more so if it's somebody that they love."

"Love?" Kaworu asked. "I feel like I am familiar with that emotion somewhat, although I do not quite understand it."

"Right, so we have something to work with. As an example, you remember Asuka from our class, right? Red hair, foreign, absolute bombshell?" Shinji asked.

"I think I can put name to face, yes," Kaworu replied.

"Okay. I'm not used to sharing this information with an angel, but here goes. I love her. I love her more than anything else in the world. I would give my life for her," Shinji explained.

"I see," Kaworu said. "So, if I were to be in love with you, then I would give my life for you?"

Shinji cringed incredibly hard at that point. "Uh, I guess that's how it works. Except, you know, it's a bit, uh, weird for a guy to, like, uh, love a guy. I mean, yeah, same sex relationships have the same rights and all and stuff but I find it all a bit strange. Unless it's love in the context of really good friends or something," Shinji said.

"I see. So you love Asuka as a lover? Somebody you wish to become one with? To unite with both in body and in mind?" Kaworu asked.

Shinji cringed again and said, "Uh, yeah. Although we're both a bit young to 'become one' as you put it."

"Yes, there is a point in one's life where they become ready to become one with another," Kaworu agreed. "So if I were to say I love you, then it would be because we were really good friends, hypothetically speaking."

"Yes, that's right," Shinji said.

"Still, for love, it doesn't seem like it's worth losing your life over," Kaworu said. "What would drive you to do something that would lose you your life?"

"That's just selfish, thinking about yourself only. Humans will often think about other people as well, often more than we think about ourselves," Shinji answered.

"And why is that?" Kaworu inquired next.

"Because humans aren't meant to be alone," Shinji replied.

* * *

"I've got two heat signatures!" Toji cried. "Just above that ridge."

"Oh my god," Asuka said. "Could one of them be Shinji?"

"Maybe," Toji said. "We'll just have to find out!" The red and black Evangelions both emerged into the sight of Shinji Ikari and Kaworu Nagisa. "It's Shinji!" Asuka cried.

Back in central dogma, Misato immediately spotted Kaworu standing next to Shinji from the live feed from Unit 02's and Unit 03's cameras. "Analyse target on the right," Misato ordered. "Kaworu Nagisa."

"There's something funny about him," Maya replied. "But we have nothing definite."

"Asuka, Toji, hold position right there," Misato said.

"Right," replied Asuka.

* * *

"So, it looks like we've been found," Kaworu said, staring up at the two giant Evangelions that were watching over them.

"I guess so," Shinji said. "I have been found once before."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. The pilot had a conscience attack though," Shinji said.

"Ah, yes. The Lilim and your conscience," Kaworu chuckled.

"It's what's allowed me to keep running for so long," Shinji pointed out.

"Would they spare their conscience for me?" Kaworu asked.

"Uh, considering that you're an angel that could wipe out the whole of humanity, I would think not," Shinji replied with a large sweat drop running down his face.

"Oh. That's a bummer," Kaworu said.

"I know. For an angel with intentions to kill every living thing on this planet, you're not half bad," Shinji said.

"Thanks," Kaworu said. "I do try. Anyway, one of us is going to die just now. And something tells me that the outcome isn't going to be so different."

"What makes you think that? NERV obviously has no clue at all because they thought I was the 17th angel," Shinji said.

"Because I'm about to give myself up," Kaworu said with a smile.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

Back in Central Dogma, Misato was straining her eyes at the screen in front of her, trying to make out what the two were saying to each other. "Can you make out what they're saying?" Misato asked.

"What? Am I meant to be able to lip read all of a sudden?" Ritsuko snapped indignantly.

"Whoa, sorry. Got up on the wrong side of the bed or something?" Misato asked.

"Work stress. You can kind of see why," Ritsuko replied, tiredly lighting a cigarette in what was most definitely a defining moment in this whole escapade.

"You weren't the one who was arrested," Misato retorted.

"Well, whose fault was that?"

"Ugh," Misato sighed.

* * *

"You're giving yourself up?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah," Kaworu said. "You are a wonderful example of humanity Shinji. Everything you say has just made me admire the Lilim so much more. I think I love you Shinji. For that, I shall give my life for you. You obviously deserve to live much more than I do. Like you say, I am just an angel."

"You…love me?" Shinji asked. "How can you say that?"

"I feel like I have known you for so long just having spent these few minutes with you Shinji. You shed new light on an existence that I thought would only serve one purpose. Now, I know that if I give myself up, you and the rest of humanity have a chance to survive," Kaworu said.

"But you're giving yourself up so easily!" Shinji said.

"It cannot be any other way," Kaworu pointed out, smiling softly. He began to walk towards Unit 02 and began to wave at it. "Excuse me! Hello! Can you hear me?"

* * *

"He's trying to speak to us!" Misato cried. "Asuka! Can you hear what he's saying?!"

"I'm turning my audio enhancers on," she said. "I'm sending the feed right through to you."

"Good work, Asuka," Misato said.

"Excuse me! Hello! Can you hear me?" Kaworu asked. Misato wondered what he wanted. "Asuka, speak back to him."

"Yes ma'am!" Asuka replied. "Yes, I can hear you. What are you doing with Shinji?"

"We were just speaking," Kaworu replied, staring up at the four eyes of the red Evangelion. Toji inside Unit 03 could only stand back and watch in bemusement. "About what?" Asuka asked sharply.

"Stuff," Kaworu replied. "Anyway, I'm just saying I'm the real 17th angel, not Shinji. I'm actually rather disappointed that you thought Shinji was the angel, not me."

"YES!!! I KNEW IT!!!" Asuka cried.

Misato blew a sigh of relief. She then looked up to the screen and saw Kaworu with an expectant look on his face. "Well?" Kaworu asked.

"Well what?" Asuka asked back.

"I am an angel. Do your business," Kaworu said.

"Ah, right," Asuka said, picking Kaworu up in her Eva's hand. She stood there for a moment, puzzling over how to handle this in her head. Shinji watched from below, confused about Kaworu saying that he loved him and how he simply gave himself up like he did. Soon, a minute passed and Kaworu was still alive in Unit 02's right hand. "Um, how would you like me to do this?" Asuka asked. "I could, uh, squish you, or toss you at the ground or rip your head off or something."

"However you please," Kaworu said with a smile.

"Jeez," Asuka said with a frown. "You're not exactly making this easy."

"Well, how about squishing? That wasn't so bad from the last time," Kaworu said.

"The last time?" Asuka asked.

"The last time?" Misato asked as well with a perplexed look on her face.

And all of a sudden, Asuka made Unit 02's hand close and Kaworu was gone just like that. Shinji gasped as he saw Kaworu get crushed. His ordeal was over, but this time he didn't feel too good about it. Asuka sat inside her entry plug and wondered what just transpired. The 17th Angel just asked her to kill him just like that. Before, he seemed to be speaking to Shinji about something, but what? He seemed to want to die. He just gave himself up. What did Shinji say to him for him to do something like that?

"Wow," Fuyutsuki said. "That was so…what's the word? Anticlimactic."

"We have a much worse problem on our hands," Gendo said. "All the penguins have been unleashed."

"You really need to seek professional help about that," Fuyutsuki said. "And the bigger problem? I thought you were going to say that SEELE would try to implement Instrumentality."

"Oh, yeah, there's that as well," Gendo said nonchalantly.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

**Author's Note:** This story has reached the 100 review milestone! I'm chuffed! 

Also, for some reason, I can't type question marks followed by an exclamation mark. It's just one or the other annoyingly and I lose a lot of character expression because of it. Also, if you see random squares in the text then you can blame the document editor for putting them there without my consent!

* * *

"Gendo Ikari has betrayed us for the final time," declared SEELE 1. "He claimed that his Evangelions were part of a new citywide evacuation drill."

"It was plainly obvious that it was not," added SEELE 5. "Something, or someone, made them believe that someone else was the 17th Angel."

"So who did they believe was the 17th Angel?" SEELE 4 inquired.

"That we do not know," SEELE 1 replied, rather irately at that. "Ikari has, as per usual, denied anything of the sort. He, however, cannot hide the fact that he launched his Evangelion units in an attempt to engage who he believed was the 17th Angel. All he is hiding from us is the identity of their mistaken angel."

"Speaking of which, what became of Tabris?" SEELE 7 asked.

"Tabris was confronted by one of NERV's Evangelions and destroyed," SEELE 2 answered. "Apparently, they discovered the true identity of the 17th Angel by that point."

"So then," SEELE 3 said, "all the angels are gone."

"That is correct," SEELE 1 said. "With all the angels defeated, we can commence the final phase of the scenario."

"Made possible with the completion of the Eva series," SEELE 5 supplemented.

"Yes, that is so. All the pieces are in place. We shall strike soon at the heart of NERV when they are least expecting it," SEELE 1 said. "The time for Instrumentality is at hand, my brothers. We shall lead the charge into a new age, the dawn of the next and final step of mankind's progress. Let nothing, NERV or otherwise, stand in our way on the path to salvation."

* * *

Shinji had never felt the way he felt just now. Kaworu was dead, all so suddenly as well. He was an angel. Shinji knew that all along. But there was something about Kaworu that made his death seem so wrong. Shinji had actually enjoyed speaking to him and Kaworu simply gave his life so that Shinji, along with humanity could live. It was an act of selflessness that went beyond what Shinji talked about to Kaworu in the first place. And the fact that he uttered the words, "I love you" to Shinji made him wonder what Kaworu meant. Did he mean he loved Shinji on his own as a person, or what Shinji represented as part of the human race?

It made Shinji wish that Kaworu hadn't died yet he knew that if Kaworu hadn't died, he would have made his way down into NERV headquarters, found what he was looking for and initiated a Third Impact. With any other angel, Shinji had no qualms over dispatching them to where they came from. However, Kaworu knew he was going to die. He willingly died. Shinji knew that Asuka struggled to kill Kaworu, even though she knew he was an angel. It was hard for Asuka because he was in human form and he was telling her to kill him. It was hard for Shinji to watch because this person had somehow in a strange fashion, befriended him for the second time.

That was another mystery to Shinji. After God sent Shinji back in time after the first time Shinji killed Kaworu, all those events transpired with everybody else none the wiser that Shinji had gone back in time, not to mention had all of God's powers. Yet, Kaworu seemed to remember meeting Shinji before. He said it was like deja vu when they met on the roof of the school. It was probably something Shinji would have to ask God about. If Kaworu knew about the strand of reality that occurred before Shinji met God, then did the other angels 'know' as well? Were they aware that this was not the first time such events were transpiring? It was a very difficult question to answer, considering all the angels were dead.

Apart from that, Shinji was entering an area of uncertainty. When God sent Shinji back in time, it was after he killed Kaworu. Now, he had reached the point after which Kaworu perished, thus leaving him to enter the future, not knowing what it held for him or anybody else. It was a situation that, well, mere mortals had to deal with on a regular basis and Shinji somehow disliked it at the moment. The future as a whole didn't make Shinji uncomfortable; it was the fact that everybody was concerned about the future of NERV and its Evangelion Units. What did the future, or fate, hold for Shinji and everybody around him? It was that feeling that added to the anxiety that Shinji was currently feeling. He may have incredible powers beyond the comprehension of any mere mortal but that didn't mean that he had no fear. In fact, fear was all too real for Shinji. 

He was once again in Misato's flat, on the balcony on his own. The evening was mild and quiet and Shinji felt that he could use the time alone. In his hand was a letter from NERV giving their sincerest apologies for the fiasco over the 17th Angel as well as promising a considerable financial compensation. Shinji didn't really care much for that because money was really the last thing on his mind. As well as that, NERV stuck in a little note asking very politely that Shinji keep a hush-hush on the whole incident. In fact, the actual part of the letter said, "However, in light of the horrendous error that occurred, you as an Evangelion pilot have both the duty and responsibility to keep the event confidential. Failure to comply may force NERV and the UN to take drastic measure against you." They very politely gave Shinji no choice whatsoever in the matter, which was fine with him because he would have gained little by selling his story to the tabloids.

Shinji began folding the letter up into a paper aeroplane and tossed it back into the flat before staring out over the city and sighing. Once again, fate played a game with him and he won, yet this time Shinji felt no joy in doing so. It just made the teenager more confused with the nature of Kaworu and what time kept hidden from him. The more he thought about it, the less clear it became which quite contradicted what most conceived of thinking hard about certain issues. Being alone meant that his uneasiness rested with him alone. It wasn't something he could really share with other people. He couldn't, for example, go up to Misato and said, "Hey, I'm actually God's little helper and things are beginning to suck for me. Mind having a chat?" No, that wasn't quite feasible. 

Shinji stood and stared, finding that he couldn't quite do anything else. He wasn't really lost in thought, but rather temporarily lost the ability to think straight which he found incredibly annoying. As he stood, he felt arms wrap around his waist. They were familiar arms, with supple skin, delicate to the touch. In his peripheral vision, Shinji caught sight of red locks swaying in the cool breeze that dominated this otherwise still and quiet night. "What are you doing all on your lonesome, idiot?" Asuka inquired, breathing softy down Shinji's neck. 

"Thinking," Shinji replied, feeling extremely comforted that Asuka was there with him.

"About me?" Asuka asked.

"A little bit," Shinji answered.

"What? Why not a big bit?"

"Because I've just got so much else on my mind."

"A lot on your mind?" Asuka inquired. "So does it have your worried?"

"A bit," Shinji replied quietly.

"You're telling a fib, idiot," Asuka said, before moving her arms from Shinji's waist up to his shoulders. "You're all tense. Whatever it is, it has you very worried."

"Well, maybe," Shinji conceded.

"Definitely, maybe, whatever," Asuka said. "Go and get changed."

"Get changed…why?"

"Because we're going out so I can put a smile on that face of yours again! Asuka cried. "You've done this for me before when I was feeling down, so the least I can do is do the same, right?"

"I guess," Shinji agreed.

"So go and get changed! I've got us a great place to go!"

* * *

Shinji was soon changed and Asuka and he, along with Misato, Kaji, Rei, Toji, Hikari, Kensuke, Ritsuko, Maya, Makoto, Shigeru and many, many others were at the great place Asuka found. "A karaoke bar?" Shinji exclaimed.

"I told you I would find us a great place to go!" Asuka said with a smile on her face. Shinji sighed heavily, wondering why the hell he was at a place like this at a time like this! "Come on, lighten up, Shinji!" Asuka said. "I might even grace you with the honour of me singing a duet with you!"

"Me, sing? No way," Shinji said.

"I'm expecting a duet at some point during the night Shinji!" Asuka said. "You better not disappoint your girlfriend!"

And that pretty much sealed the deal. Shinji was whipped, another thing he had to deal with. Although being 'whipped', in the proverbial sense, of course, didn't seem like quite a bad thing from Asuka. After settling that with himself, Shinji glanced over to Misato who stuck her tongue out at Shinji. "I never knew you would be up for a Karaoke Bar night out!" Misato said.

"Neither did I," Shinji said, wondering if Misato was drunk already.

"Well, for me, there's not much karaoke involved, it's mainly the bar!" Misato cried with a huge cheesy grin on her face, holding up a martini in her right hand.

"I thought as much," Shinji said with a sweat drop appearing over his head.

The whole place was filled with NERV employees along with their friends and families, all celebrating the defeat of all 17 angels. Drink flowed like water and many relatively unknown faces of NERV were showing off impressive vocal performances on the mic. Misato decided that she should follow suit, but instead, made a drunken fool of herself, singing off pitch, out of time and giggling randomly every now and then just when the good parts of the song came as well. She would have been booed off stage had everyone in the bar not totally expected what just happened.

"Hey Asuka," Hikari said, "we should go up."

"Yeah, okay!" Asuka agreed before turning round to Shinji. "I'm going up to sing, Shinji! I'm expecting thunderous applause!"

"Okay, knock 'em out," Shinji said, managing a smile. The pair took their time picking a song but when they did, it turned out to be yet another J-Pop song that Shinji had never heard about. It was catchy however and both Asuka and Hikari could undoubtedly sing. Shinji found himself absorbed in the song's cheesy J-Pop-ness. Soon, hoards of NERV personnel were singing along, Shinji being one of them. When the duo finished the song, they were met with a massive round of applause.

Asuka sat back down next to Shinji who could only respond by giving her a kiss. "That was great!" he said. "And you got your thunderous applause!" 

"It was only to be expected, really," Asuka said. "And look, there's a smile on that face of yours Shinji! Who do you have to thank for that?"

"My wonderful and gorgeous girlfriend," Shinji said.

"That's what I like to hear!" Asuka exclaimed jubilantly. "Now there isn't going to be anymore karaoke for a while so why don't you come up and dance?"

"Dance? I don't know if I could…"

"Come on! Don't be spineless Shinji!" Asuka cried, pulling Shinji up to the dance floor. 

It was true that Shinji could not dance. However, it didn't mean that he couldn't use his powers to suddenly give him the ability to dance, which he promptly did to save himself much embarrassment. Shinji began by simply moving his feet and arms in time with the music, just trying to get by and Asuka didn't seem to mind at all. However, Shinji began to get into things and started to get his groove on. At first, Asuka didn't really notice but then his seemingly average ability to dance skyrocketed exponentially and soon Shinji was performing dance moves that Asuka couldn't quite keep up with. Then, Asuka suddenly found herself keeping up with Shinji. Unbeknownst to her, it was all Shinji's doing, using his powers to add to Asuka's dancing abilities as well. 

Shinji really began to enjoy dancing with Asuka and the pair was unknowingly attracting a crowd. In Shinji's mind, the dance he was having was helping him to forget about everything that happened over the past few weeks. All those close calls with the angels, the time Asuka got mind raped, the time Rei nearly died and the whole incident with Shinji being branded as the 17th angel. None of that mattered because to Shinji, there was only here and now, Asuka and him and the dance floor. Well, of course, there was also all the NERV personnel who were all watching Shinji and Asuka strut their stuff in absolute amazement. Never before had they seen such an extraordinary dance duo before.

It was Misato who began clapping her hands in time with the music. Before long, everybody there was up by the dance floor, clapping their hands and cheering on the two Eva pilots. Shinji's and Asuka's style had all the grace and elegance of a ballroom dance yet had that edge that modern creative dance possesed. As the song came closer to finishing, the pace of the pair's dance increased and the moves got more intricate. What was more amazing was that they were completely oblivious to the crowd they had drawn. The music went into its final seconds and to finish their dance off, Shinji spun Asuka out, his hands just barely gripping her fingertips, before roping her back in and leaning her back onto his left arm.

The two were face to face with Asuka in Shinji's arm. There was dead silence as the music finished abruptly. The room full of NERV personnel were ready to explode into wild cheers when they heard the call of a baby emperor penguin, still with most of its down feathers, from the door of the karaoke bar. "What the hell?" Misato said in the midst of the confusion following the appearance of the penguin.

"It must have escaped out of NERV," Ritsuko said. 

"Poor guy must be lost," Misato noted. "I'll take it back to NERV."

"Take it back?" Makoto Hyuga asked.

"Yeah, I have my car," Misato pointed out.

"Haven't you been drinking?" Ritsuko inquired with a raised eyebrow. Misato's reply was an evil look towards her blonde compatriot.

* * *

"She may have been drinking," Asuka muttered, "but that doesn't stop her doing anything. Even 100mph." Shinji, Asuka, Ritsuko, Kaji, the penguin and Misato herself were inside the car, all hanging on for their dear lives bar Misato. Even the penguin began to look as pale as a ghost. "Why didn't Kaji drive?" Shinji asked.

"Believe it or not, I've had more to drink than Misato," Kaji said. He then winked and added, "But I'm a man, so I can handle my drink!" Misato then promptly swung her left hand out towards Kaji's groin and knocked him right in the nuts. "That's for being chauvinistic," Misato said before swinging her arm again, giving Kaji an aftershock in the stones. "And that's for thinking you can out drink me!" she added.

"Arrrgggghhhh…sorry babe," Kaji groaned as he slowly wormed himself into the foetal position.

"Why did we go with Misato?" Asuka asked.

"To be honest, I don't quite know," Shinji replied. "All I remember is being thrown into the car with the penguin."

"Same, I guess," Asuka said with a sigh. 

"By the way guys," Misato said, "that was some incredible dancing you guys did back there!"

"Oh, were you watching?" Shinji said.

"Uh, everybody in the karaoke bar was," Misato pointed out.

"Really?" Shinji said.

"Yup," Misato answered.

"Meh, they just lay witness to the incredible dynamic dancing partnership we possess, right Shinji?" Asuka said.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Shinji said, rather shocked to find out that everybody had watched them dance.

After Misato drove at speeds that should never be achieved anywhere other than a race track, they soon arrived at NERV HQ to return the lost penguin. As they wondered in, the penguin followed in bemusement. Misato saw that the penguin wasn't keeping up and grabbed it by the flipper, hurrying it along. "Aren't you making it move too quickly?" Ritsuko asked.

"I have a penguin as a roommate," Misato pointed out. "I know what I'm doing."

"Fine, have it your way," Ritsuko said with a sigh and a shrug of her shoulders. They headed for the commander's perch where they did indeed find Commander Ikari and Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki deep in conversation. 

"Sir," Misato said, moving the penguin toward the commander. "We retrieved this from the karaoke bar downtown." 

Gendo turned towards Misato and said, "Major, can't you see I'm very…" Then, Gendo caught sight of the penguin. "Uuuuaaaaggghh! GET THAT DAMN THING OUT OF MY FACE!" Gendo literally leapt backwards as far as he could from the sight of the flightless bird. The commander was sweating buckets and the deputy commander had a huge sweat drop going across his face at the sight of the commander in his state. "Very well," Fuyutsuki said. "Return it to…" The deputy commander looked about, sighed and said, "Just release it. The penguins are roaming free anyway."

"Yes sir," Misato said, letting go of the penguin. It promptly went toward Asuka and looked up at her. "Huh? What do you want?" the redhead asked. The penguin then tugged at Asuka's skirt a bit, before waddling around her in a circle. "I think it likes you," Kaji noted.

"What? I don't want a penguin to like me!" Asuka cried.

"Doesn't look like you have a choice in the matter," Shinji chuckled.

Asuka looked down at the large bird, which promptly look right back up at her. "What am I meant to do?" Asuka asked.

"You could keep it," Misato said. "Pen-Pen could do with some company."

"Keep it? Are you kidding? What could I possibly do with a pet penguin?" Asuka cried in the usual Asuka fashion.

Misato was quick to give suggestions, "You could feed it, hug it, take it out for walks…"

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Asuka yelled in annoyance. 

"Well, the least you could do is name it," Shinji said.

"Name it? WHO THE HELL SAID I WAS KEEPING IT?" Asuka cried once more. The penguin let out a squawk and Asuka immediately snapped, "AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

The penguin's expression went from one of shock from being screamed at to one of immense sadness. It let out a forlorn squawk before waddling off with its head sunken low towards a corner. "Aw, Asuka! You hurt his feelings!" Misato cried.

"His?" Asuka asked with a confused tone.

"I know it's a male. Trust me," Misato said. "But like I said, you hurt his feelings!" Asuka turned away from Misato and towards the penguin which looked utterly miserable. Suddenly, Asuka felt a wave of pity for the penguin come over her. It was only a baby emperor penguin as well. She went forward toward the penguin and knelt down next to it. "I'm sorry…I didn't meant to yell at you like that," Asuka said. The penguin slowly turned toward Asuka with teary eyes. Asuka couldn't help but let out a cry, "Oh my god, you're so cute! How could I ever yell at you?" She then proceeded to hug the fluffy feathered penguin.

Shinji, on the other hand, was cringing. "Is that really Asuka or was she abducted by aliens?" he asked.

"No, I think you're seeing a softer side of her," Kaji chuckled. "And I think you helped to let that come out."

"Me? No way, I've never ever seen Asuka like that before," Shinji pointed out.

"Ah, okay. Must be the penguin then," Kaji noted.

"You're so adorable!" Asuka said from the corner. "I just have to have you as a pet!"

"Isn't that we suggested in the first place?" Misato asked.

"And I'll have to name you as well!" Asuka added.

"My god, this girl is a hypocrite?" Misato cried whilst throwing her arms up in the air.

"I'm going to name you…Baxter," Asuka said.

"Ba-ax…ter…" Misato. "I'm struggling to pronounce that. Is that an English name?"

"It's the name of the dog from a movie called Anchorman," Asuka pointed out. "Yes, it is an English name and I just think it suits this adorable little penguin!"

"Baxter, huh?" Shinji said. "I guess he does suit that name."

There was a thud from across the other side of the commander's perch where Gendo had just passed out. "Ah, I guess all this talk of penguins finally got to the commander," Kaji said.

"He really is afraid of penguins, huh?" Misato said. "I thought it was all rumours."

"I guess you thought wrong," Ritsuko said.

"What about his ability to do his work? Is it not slightly hampered by the fact that he's constantly surrounded by penguins?" Misato inquired.

"Oh yes, he's constantly on the verge of nervous breakdown," Fuyutsuki explained. "However, we somehow manage, even if commander-less so I guess it does no great harm. Well, it does to Commander Ikari but that's beside the point."

"That's true," Misato agreed. "Anyway, we better get going back to the par-tay!" 

"Very well," Fuyutsuki said. "And because Miss Sohryu likes the penguin so much, I guess there's no point in it staying here."

"I'll be keeping Baxter all right!" Asuka cried. "You can count on that!"

Just as they were about to leave for the karaoke bar once more, alarms began wailing inside a very empty Central Dogma. "What the hell?" Misato cried. "It can't be an angel?"

"It's not!" Ritsuko cried. "The MAGI are being hacked!"

"Hacked? By who?" Misato yelled.

"No time! I've got to stop the hacking right now!" Ritsuko exclaimed, running off to her console one level down.

"What's going on?" Shinji asked. "We're not under attack, are we?"

"We are, but through cyberspace, apparently," Misato replied. "This isn't good."

"Dr Akagi," Fuyutsuki called out. "Who or what is the source of the hacking?"

"It can't be," Ritsuko said. "All five of the other MAGI supercomputers are hacking us! They're trying to get control of our MAGI system!"

"And who, professor, do you know that has control of all MAGI systems except outs?" Kaji inquired towards the deputy commander.

"SEELE," Fuyutsuki muttered through clenched teeth. The deputy commander then picked up his phone and said, "This is Fuyutsuki. Have the NERV party called off right this instant. There is an emergency at HQ and all NERV personnel are required at their posts."

Misato went down to join Ritsuko and checked on her efforts to thwart the hacking. "The odds are stacked against us," Ritsuko said. "But I know the architecture of the MAGI better than these hackers do. Given some time, I reckon I could hold them off."

"Do you have time?" Misato inquired.

"That's the big question," Ritsuko replied as she furiously typed on her keyboard. "If I had a little help, then maybe I could get the leeway I need to stop the hackers but on my own, it's a bit of a push."

"Don't suppose I could lend a hand?" Misato inquired.

"Unless you can simultaneously work with multiple syntaxes as well as monitoring and managing every single one of the MAGI's firewall ports, then sorry, no thanks," Ritsuko said. 

"Well, all right. Hang in there for now, Ritsu. Help is on the way," Misato said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gendo was coming to and stood up whilst rubbing his head. "I had the strangest dream in which Pilot Sohryu was cuddling a baby emperor penguin," he said.

"That wasn't a dream," Fuyutsuki pointed out.

Gendo shuddered and said, "Please, next time, just lie to me and save me the torment."

"Very well. However, I should really be updated you on the situation," Fuyutsuki said. "Currently, we have three NERV staff, one of which is a known double agent, and two Eva pilots inside NERV HQ. The MAGI are currently being hacked by five other MAGI supercomputers which can only really be the work of SEELE."

"The old men must want to do it now," Gendo noted. "The attack on the MAGI is only the calm before the storm."

"I believe you are right," Fuyutsuki said. "If we drive the MAGI attackers off, then they will attempt to take HQ by force."

"Maybe. Let's just hope that we can get our personnel here before that happens," Gendo said. "And let's hope that the penguins keep away from me."

"Whatever you say," Fuyutsuki muttered tiredly.

* * *

Shinji and Kaji were sat twiddling their thumbs while Asuka was playing with Baxter. "You know, this is probably one of NERV's greatest moments of peril and here we are, doing nothing about it as well as having no ability to do anything about it either," Kaji said. 

Shinji was thinking about what the hackers would want with the MAGI and then said, "I think I have a way to help." The teenage god went towards Ritsuko who was incredibly hard at work with her fingers typing away at a blistering pace. "Excuse me, Dr Akagi," Shinji said.

"Sorry Shinji, can't it wait? I'm incredibly busy, trying to save the MAGI and all," Ritsuko said.

"Well, I was just thinking about that time that angel hacked the MAGI, it downloaded tonnes of porn, didn't it? I was wondering what would happen it you opened up those files to these hackers." Shinji said.

"Shinji, that is genius!" Ritsuko cried before typing in the required commands.

* * *

The people who were at work hacking the MAGI in NERV HQ in Matsushiro, Berlin, Massachusetts, Hamburg and Beijing all simultaneously received torrents of all forms of pornography from the MAGI in Tokyo-3. "What's going on?" asked one of the hackers in Massachusetts.

"Sir, porn…and lots of it!" another hacker yelled.

"Well? Ignore it and continuing attacking the Tokyo-3 MAGI," the more senior hacker ordered.

"I…I can't! The porn is filling up our hard drives!"

"What the hell?"

"My god, it's starting to play all over our screens! It's…so good…"

"Snap out of it! Start deleting it!"

"Aw, do we have to?"

"That's an order…do it…in about an hour's time…you're right, it is good…"

* * *

"That slowed them right down!" Ritsuko cried. "Great thinking Shinji!"

"No problem," Shinji said.

"Now I can concentrate on keeping them out!" Ritsuko said. "Any word on the rest of the NERV staff?"

"They're heading this way," Misato said. "How's things on your front?"

"Shinji had a brainstorm which slowed them right down!" Ritsuko replied.

"Can Shinji simultaneously work with multiple syntaxes as well as monitoring and managing every single one of the MAGI's firewall ports?" Misato asked.

"Nope. But he knew that all the porn stored in the MAGI from that angel attack eons ago might come in handy!" Ritsuko said. 

"Porn? Is that what's slowing the hackers down?" Misato cried.

"Yup!" Ritsuko answered. "Plus, I've sent it several million times so that they receive several billon gigabytes of porn, hopefully chugging their MAGI systems to a near halt. If not, then hopefully they'll just be watching it like a bunch of dirty bastards!"

* * *

The hackers at each of the five MAGI supercomputers were deeply involved in watching the porn that was sent to them. Unfortunately for those back at NERV, there was always a female officer around. "What the hell are you dumb retards watching?" the female officer in Massachusetts cried.

"Porn, what does it look like?" the senior male hacker shot back. 

The female officer promptly smacked the two hackers across the head and cried, "Delete that crap right now and do your real job!"

"It's good stuff though!" the second male hacker pleaded. The female officer looked up towards the screen and couldn't help but be slightly turned on by the sexual scenes on display. However, she resisted her more primal urges and said, "Get deleting, NOW!" She added another smack across the heads of the hackers for effect. "Yes ma'am," the two hackers said sadly.

* * *

"The hacking is speeding up!" Ritsuko said. "Oh well, that porn did buy me fifteen minutes!"

"Ritsuko!" Misato cried. "Personnel are flooding back to their posts!"

"Good! Get me Maya, Shigeru and Makoto here now! I need all the help I can get!" Ritsuko shouted.

"Right here, doctor Akagi!" said Maya with a smile, leaping into her seat.

"Maya! Good to see you! Wher are Shigeru and Makoto?" Ritsuko asked.

"Right here!" said Makoto and Shigeru at the same time.

"Excellent! Now we have some hackers to fend off!" Ritsuko yelled.

Meanwhile, Misato was dealing with the arrival of Toji and Rei. "What the hell's going on?" Toji asked. 

"The MAGI are currently being hacked," Misato replied. "Rest assured, I'm sure Ritsuko and her team can handle it."

"I thought it was an angel attack," Toji said.

"There are no more angels," Misato pointed out.

"Then who could possibly want to hack the MAGI then?" Toji asked.

"I'm not too sure," Misato said. "But one thing is for certain; any enemies we do have from now on will all be human."

Misato then saw two people in trail of Toji and Rei who she knew shouldn't be anywhere near NERV HQ. "Why are these two here?" Misato asked angrily.

"Hikari and Kensuke just got dragged along with the rest of us," Toji pointed out. "They didn't really have a choice."

"Well, they need to be sent home at the earliest possible moment," Misato said. "This isn't the place for either of them."

"Right, okay," Hikari said, nodding on behalf of both herself and Kensuke who looked ready to explode just being inside NERV HQ.

Rei on the other hand was drawn towards Asuka and her new feathered companion. "Is that…a penguin?" Rei inquired.

"Yeah," Asuka said. "His name is Baxter. Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?"

"Baxter?" Rei said. "It appears that it is not an adult penguin."

"Yeah, you can tell from its fluffy, grey down feathers!" Asuka said. "Here, you want to cuddle him?" Before Rei could pose any objection, she had a penguin in her arms. She looked towards the face of the penguin and it looked backed with a happy and gleeful expression. Rei couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. "It is cute," she said.

"Damn right it's cute!" Asuka said. "Hikari, come here! Look at my new pet penguin!"

"Pet penguin?" Hikari said before running over to join Asuka.

"Girls," Toji muttered.

"I don't know what's more ironic? The fact that we're playing about when NERV is under serious threat or the fact that Rei is cuddling that penguin?" Shinji said.

"Definitely Rei cuddling," Toji said. "NERV's been under serious threat more times than I have fingers and we usually never take it seriously."

"That's true enough. Plus, it's not an angel so there's not much we can do about it," Shinji said.

"Yup, so we might as well just take it easy," Toji said. "I am annoyed though that my girlfriend is making fuss over a penguin instead of chilling with me."

"Like you said, girls," Shinji said.

"Yeah, girls," Toji agreed.

Ritsuko typed a string of code and snapped her enter button down. The immediate result was that the hacking was completely stopped and the MAGI's 666 firewall was in place. "There! We've stopped the hacking!" Ritsuko called out.

"Good job, Dr Akagi," Gendo said. "See to it that no other hacking takes place."

"Yes sir," Ritsuko said.

"We've stopped SEELE from gaining direct access through the MAGI," Fuyutsuki said. "Now what?"

"Now we what and anticipate their next move," Gendo said.

"Which is?" Fuyutsuki inquired

"Uh…I don't really know…" Gendo admitted. Fuyutsuki couldn't help but bring his palm toward his face in exasperation.

* * *

"Ikari has implemented a 666 type firewall on the MAGI. It is impenetrable for at least 72 hours," SEELE 3 said.

"I wanted to avoid using force, but it seems Ikari has left us no choice," SEELE 1 said. "Alert the Japanese Prime Minister that NERV is trying to start Third Impact. That way we can use the JSDF it get what we want." 

"The time is drawing near," SEELE 5 said.

"It is indeed, my brother," SEELE 2 agreed.

"Thus, we can shape the future to our will. We shall find our salvation through death and rebirth!" SEELE 1 declared. "Ikari, you have betrayed us for the last time. Be prepared to face retribution by fire!"

* * *

Above the hill surrounding Tokyo-3, the usually quiet skies were disrupted by a squadron of VTOL aircraft zooming overhead. Below, a group of tanks made their way towards Tokyo-3. They were part of the JSDF, part of Japan's special forces groups established after Second Impact. They were ruthless and had orders to kill any NERV personnel they came across, non-combatant or otherwise. They began by taking out the radars that NERV had in place, effectively alerting them to an attack but blinding them in the process. It was then they advanced.

Up above, high in the sky, God was watching from a cloud. He had been holidaying in Okinawa and decided to see what all the commotion was in Tokyo-3. He didn't like what he saw. Another pointless conflict approached where man would go up against man, pitted in hatred, only to cause needless suffering. God shook his head, hoping that Shinji could somehow stop any unnecessary bloodshed and save the Earth from an impending Third Impact.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

* * *

"Is something the matter, Baxter?" Asuka asked of her young emperor penguin, which had suddenly become restless.

"They say that animals can sense danger long before any human can," Ritsuko Akagi noted. She glanced towards the main display which showed one radar station after another going offline, presumably destroyed by an aggressor force. "You think something's going to happen?" Misato inquired. The blonde doctor pulled out a cigarette from the inside pocket of her lab coat and brought it slowly to her mouth. She coaxed a flame out of a lighter running dry of gas before lighting her cigarette hurriedly. "I know something is going to happen," she said, before removing the cigarette from her mouth and exhaling the smoke from her lungs. Misato frowned deeply and as if reassuring herself, her right hand wondered down to her pistol holster, only to find that it wasn't there. She walked towards her post within central dogma and opened a drawer to withdraw her Heckler & Koch USP pistol. She checked that there was a full magazine loaded into the weapon before cocking it, applying the safety and placing it in her holster.

"Misato…you don't actually think you're going to have to use that, do you?" Shinji inquired quietly.

"It's a last resort," Misato replied with a stern look on her usually soft face. "Better to have and not use it than to have to use it and not have it." Misato turned her attention to the three main computer technicians, who liked Misato, were trying to make sense of what was happening. The commanders however, high up in their perch, knew exactly what was going on. "Major Katsuragi," boomed the voice of Commander Ikari, "have the pilots sent to their respective Evangelion Units before launching them on the double."

"Send them to the Evas, sir?" Misato asked. "May I ask what is going on?"

Gendo didn't say anything. It was Fuyutsuki who stood up and said, "Major, it appears that the JSDF, most likely under SEELE's orders have launched an offensive against us."

"An offensive against us? What for?!" Misato cried.

"They want the same thing the angels did," Gendo replied. "Thus, it is imperative that you get those pilots to their Evas ASAP."

"Very well, sir," Misato said before turning to the four Eva pilots. "You heard the man. Get going to your Evas before it gets ugly in here."

"Gets ugly? What you mean Misato?" Toji asked.

"The JSDF are most likely going to invade NERV HQ itself. That means the sooner you guys are in your Evas the better," Misato said.

"All right, fine," Toji agreed, although the frown on his face seemed to tell a different story.

"Come on guys, get a move on! Run! You need to get to your Evas as quickly as possible!" Misato said. On her order, Shinji, Rei, Toji and Asuka, with Baxter tightly gripped in her hands, ran off for the cages. However, Rei deviated from the usual route to the cages, taking her to someplace completely different. Nobody noticed her running in another direction. The pilots were all too focused on getting to their Evas. One pilot in particular wanted to get to her Eva as well as keeping her new pet penguin safe. "You're coming with me Baxter," Asuka said. She looked at the cute fluff ball that was a baby emperor penguin and couldn't help but shiver at how cute the thing was.

* * *

"Alpha, this is Delta. We are in position, over."

"Roger that Delta. All units in position. Proceed to secondary positions." Standing by near the gates of NERV HQ were elite units of the JSDF, all trained to be ruthless and efficient at whatever they were ordered to do. On this day, their primary objectives were to infiltrate NERV HQ and capture the Evangelion Units. Their secondary task was to eliminate the pilots of the Evangelions so that they could not be used against their own forces. These elite commandos were under the impression that NERV would be attempting to start a Third Impact. This was and wasn't true, as the majority of NERV personnel had no such intention and wished for nothing like Third Impact to occur. It was the people at the top who possessed this desire. In this respect, the JSDF were right in their attempt to quell NERV. However, little did they know that the benefactors of those they received orders from had the very same motive. Not only did SEELE want to stop NERV and Gendo Ikari, they wanted to utterly kill NERV.

"Command, this is Bravo Commander. What are our orders concerning non combatants?"

"You are to eliminate any on sight with prejudice."

"Roger that." Bravo commander closed his radio link and gave the hand signal for his squad to advance. They did so swiftly and silently, dressed in full black combat gear, barely discernable from shadows. Bravo squad's role, along with Charlie's, was to coming knocking in from the front door. Any expected resistance was minimal and the JSDF troops almost expected to walk right in.

"Alpha in position above the major ventilation shafts."

"Bravo moving into position outside gate 1."

"Charlie in position at Gate 2."

"Delta is moving with the mechanised unit into the GeoFront. ETA 15 minutes."

"Bravo, in position now." Three squads of these commandos would enter the base on foot while one escorted tanks and APCs through to one of the entrances that allowed trucks and other large vehicles into the GeoFront. "Command, this is Alpha. Squads are in position. Request green light for the infiltration."

"Alpha, Bravo and Charlie squads. You have the green light to go, I repeat, you have the green light to go."

"Okay boys," said the commander of Alpha to his squad, "let's teach these NERV bastards a lesson they'll never forget."

* * *

Unbeknownst to the JSDF commando squads, a certain teenage god was watching their every move. _This is bad, _Shinji thought, _if they get into the base then they'll start shooting indiscriminately. I can't let that happen. How the heck am I going to stop them?_ Shinji had just finished getting into his plug suit and ran out into the cages to get himself inside his Eva. Toji was ready inside Unit 03 and Asuka was, well, tending to Baxter, apparently. "Shinji, are you in your Eva yet?" asked Misato over the radio link in the Eva. Shinji quickly jumped into his entry plug and answered. "Yeah, I'm here," he said. "Toji's ready as well."

"That's good. Get launched as soon as you can," Misato ordered. A moment of silence passed before Misato said, "Uh, where's Asuka?"

"I'm making sure the LCL doesn't mess up Baxter's feathers!" cried an irate Asuka all the way from the changing rooms.

"What the hell? Why do you have Baxter with you?!" Misato cried incredulously.

"Where else am I going to put him?" Asuka asked back. "Besides, if I'm safe in my Eva, then so will Baxter!"

"My god," Misato moaned, slowly dragging her hand down across her face. "She cares more about the penguin's life than hers."

For Shinji, it was enough for a quick chuckle, but as he went through his Eva's launch sequence, he could feel that the JSDF were about to make their first move. As soon as they did, NERV personnel would be slaughtered in their dozens and Shinji knew that he couldn't let that happen. There was not much he could do from within his Eva. He could stop any further troops from getting near NERV HQ but once they were inside the building, he lost any options he may have had on taking action. That was if his only weapon was the Eva. His other weapon was all of God's heavenly powers. If he could figure out a way to stop those JSDF troopers using his powers that would take a great load off of his mind. _I know! _Shinji thought as he came across an idea. _I'll fight fire with fire! These JSDF Special Forces guys want to slaughter helpless NERV personnel? I'll give them something they can really chew on!_ Shinji's brilliant idea was to have a special forces detachment placed within NERV HQ to protect the base that were, in his own words, 'better than the JSDF'. That way, the non-combatants within the base wouldn't be so defenceless. And as his Eva came to life, Shinji saw his plan unfold before his godly eyes. He felt like laughing maniacally at his creation but decided against it. Laughing maniacally wasn't so cool.

* * *

"Green light, green light! Go, go, go!" ordered the commander of Alpha squad. They advanced quickly towards the gate and took up positions on either side of this main entrance. Curiously, there were no guards. There were usually at least one or two armed guards at the gates just as a show of force but oddly there was nobody at this gate. This led the commander of Alpha squad to become weary. "Bravo, this is Alpha; any sign of NERV guards at your post, over?"

"Negative. No guards in sight, over." The commander of Alpha frowned, wondering whether this could be a trap. He switched the frequency on his radio headset to that of his immediate squad. "All right, men. Proceed with caution. Two of you set charges. The rest will provide cover." And like clockwork, two of Alpha squad headed towards the doors that were usually opened using a NERV ID. They quickly got to work planting breaching charges before clearing the area. "Charges set to go."

"Do it."

Two small explosions ripped the doors open, allowing Alpha squad to head into NERV HQ. Several members of the squad got to work opening the rest of those doors at that gate. This squad of eight men was only an advanced group. Now that this entrance was open, many other units of the JSDF would be ready to encroach upon NERV HQ. Bravo squad also cleared their entrance and Charlie was heading down the massive ventilation shafts that led straight down into NERV HQ. Once Charlie was through, it would let JSDF VTOL aircraft enter via that route and hopefully cause more havoc.

Alpha moved forwards sharply, looking about for any sign of activity, only to find that this part of NERV HQ appeared to be completely deserted. "It's quiet…too quiet," said a member of Alpha squad.

"Keep your eyes peeled; it might be a trap," ordered the commander of Alpha squad.

"How can it be a trap if they're not supposed to know we're here?" asked another squad member. And it was a very good question indeed. It was as if all the personnel in the immediate vicinity of the gates had known about the JSDF infiltration and basically flew the coop. They advanced slowly at such a pace that they would fall behind the schedule they were working to but in such a situation, speed and swiftness was sacrificed to maintain operational integrity. Bravo squad was making a similarly slow advance while Charlie was already working to get the main vent shafts open to allow JSDF VTOL aircraft in.

"What the hell?" cried an Alpha squad member as he came under fire. Two shots were fired at him and he immediately dropped to the ground and stayed there. "Take defensive positions! Move!" cried the commander, still under shock from suddenly losing one of his men. The efficiency at which the JSDF squad followed their order was testament to their training. Unfortunately for them, the people they had come up against just happened to get more training of higher quality. Suddenly, a stun grenade was tossed in Aplha's direction, causing all the members in the area closely surrounding the grenade to be momentarily disorientated. The commander of Alpha managed to avoid the stun grenade, only to hear more suppressed gunfire from not too far away. The shots always came in twos and each pair of bullets took down another member of his squad. The commander soon found himself being the last member of his squad alive, much to his terror. The last thing he saw was two men, fully clad in black military gear similar to his but with demonic looking black gasmasks on.

* * *

When Shinji used his powers to get a Special Forces unit to counter the JSDF, the last thing he expected was to get SAS soldiers eliminating the JSDF advance party with extreme efficiency. It dawned on Shinji that he had just used his powers to take the lives of others, even if indirectly. He knew that he had to do something to protect the lives of those within NERV, but maybe calling in the SAS was a tiny step too far.

"Uh, we've detected four squads of JSDF troops entering the base, most likely as an advance troupe," reported Makoto Hyuga.

"What?! Are you kidding me?! We have to get non-combatants out of the area immediately!" Misato cried.

"Uh, that's the thing," Makoto said. "All non-combatants are out of the area and the JSDF squads are all dead."

"What? Who killed them?" Misato asked.

"I don't quite know. The camera footage shows these guys dressed in black with gasmasks on," Makoto replied.

"That's unbelievable!" Misato yelled, watching the footage. "Those guys look and act just like soldiers out of the SAS!"

"And what exactly are the SAS doing in NERV HQ, defending us from the JSDF?" asked the cold voice of Gendo Ikari.

"Beats me," said Misato with a dismissive shrug of her shoulders. "Let's just hope they hang about."

"More JSDF squads detected!" Shigeru cried. "And there's more than just advance parties this time! Hundreds of them rushing into the base!"

"Make sure non-combatants are out of the area! Have the pilots all gotten into their Evas?" Misato asked.

"The pilots are ready and standing by for orders," Maya Ibuki answered.

"Should we launch them, sir?" Misato asked of the commander.

"Do not do so unless it is absolutely necessary," Gendo replied. "If JSDF troops get anywhere near the cages, launch the Evas."

"I would call inside NERV HQ anywhere near the Evas," Misato muttered under her breath.

"Major Katsuragi!" Shigeru called out. "Intense gunfights have started between the JSDF and our supposed SAS allies."

"I'm just wondering how the hell SAS troops are in this base," Misato moaned.

"Aren't we all?" Ritsuko agreed. It was indeed a mystery, but it was a helpful one, because it saved them getting massacred from the ruthless JSDF troops who were just not as ruthless as the SAS troops. "The SAS are outnumbered ten to one, yet they're still managing to hold back the JSDF," Makoto said admiringly while watching the video camera feed.

"Oh no…" Maya said after realising something was missing from the entire equation. "Rei…she's not in her Eva! She's not anywhere!"

"Holy crap! Please tell me you are kidding!" Misato yelled.

"Sorry Major, I can't. I thought she was there with the rest of them, I can't believe I didn't spot this earlier," Maya said, looking as if she was ready to begin weeping.

"Don't beat yourself over it," Misato said. "We just need to search the base using our surveillance systems and find her ASAP."

"Roger, getting right on it!" Makoto said.

"Aoba, keep an eye on the SAS JSDF gunfight. If the SAS even begin to falter, let me know," Misato ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" acknowledged Shigeru.

While the search for Rei was on, Ritsuko noticed something very ominous approaching NERV on the few remaining radar feeds. "Uh, Misato, you might to see this," the blonde said.

"What is it?" Misato asked. When she looked at the radar feed, her face went pane. The objects approaching had radar signatures much larger than that of the biggest of airliners. In fact, it was very similar in size to the radar signature of an Evangelion. And the worst part was that there were nine of these objects. "Someone, try to get me a video feed from the last remaining radar stations!" Misato ordered.

"Right on it, ma'am," said Maya. Within seconds, they had a video picture projected on the main screen of central dogma and what they saw wasn't good at all. "My god…the Eva series?" Misato said.

"It's completed? This isn't good," Ritsuko muttered.

Up on the commander's perch, Gendo stood up and said, "Launch the Evas. Have them engage the Eva series before they reach the city."

_Jesus H. Christ! If we just launched them when I asked, then we wouldn't be in this mad rush! Maybe the commander is going crazy! _Misato thought very irately. "Eva Units 01, 02 and 03! Get your asses launched right now!" the Major ordered.

"Jeez, some warning would have been nice!" Asuka said, somehow more annoyed than Misato.

"Just do it!" Misato cried.

Fuyutsuki stood up beside Gendo and seeing the Eva series only meant one thing. "SEELE want to begin it here and now," the Deputy Commander said.

"Indeed," agreed Gendo. "Fuyutsuki, watch things here for me."

"Very well. Give my regards to Yui." The older of the two men received no word as Gendo took his leave to begin his own version of the Instrumentality project. Fuyutsuki wondered who would manage it first; SEELE or Gendo? He had no doubt in his mind that Instrumentality would take place, but somehow he wished deep in his mind that neither SEELE nor Gendo would dictate its process. He knew that it was a farfetched hope, but he just wished that when Instrumentality occurred, it would be for the good of mankind.

* * *

Meanwhile, the three Evangelion Units emerged from the GeoFront into the deserted city of Tokyo-3. Most of the residents had either evacuated or were in shelters, waiting for this crisis to subside. However, no resident of the city knew that there were no angels involved this time. When you've abandoned your home for fear of your life, you tend not to get involved with the details of your abandonment. "What the hell were we rushed out here for?" Asuka asked, still incredibly annoyed. She was quickly answered by the silhouettes in the sky. There were nine of them and from where they stood on the ground, they looked reminiscent of vultures circling an animal carcass. "That, Asuka, would be the Eva Series," Misato said over the comm. link in a deadpan tone. "Apparently, they were originally intended to supplement our current fleet of Evangelions but SEELE now have different ideas. Instead, they probably want to kill us all with the Eva Series. That is, unless you kill them first."

Misato's explanation apparently annoyed Asuka more. "What? So they were planning to give us help we didn't need and figured, hey, let's just kill them instead?"

"Pretty much," Misato confirmed.

"Well I say, as per my usual, we kick some ass!" Asuka said.

"Hold your horses there, missy," said Ritsuko, obviously worried that Asuka would charge headlong into a fight. "These Evas are all unmanned and controlled via dummy plug. They all appear to have S2 engines as well as having possible regenerative capabilities. In short, be careful and whatever you do, don't get yourself killed."

"S2 engines? Doesn't Unit 01 have one of those?" Toji asked.

"That's correct. Unfortunately, we don't fully understand it. If it works, great, but if it breaks while you're out there, don't come crying to us because we'll have no idea," Ritsuko explained.

Shinji decided to check whether it was working by unplugging his umbilical cable. Once disconnected, his Evangelion didn't go to emergency power, which meant that the S2 engine was functioning. "Okay, it works," he said.

"That's great," Misato said. "Can you get to the task at hand? Please?"

"Not really. They're still flying up there in a big circle and if you haven't noticed, we can't fly!" Asuka pointed out.

"Touché," Misato said. From inside Central Dogma, the giant video display showed the Eva Series still flying in a circle just outside the city limits. "Well, okay, I'll amend my orders," Misato said. "Approach the Eva Series and perform field reconnaissance. Try and draw them away from the city if possible. If they attack, hit them back with everything you've got!"

The three Evangelions headed towards the Eva Series slowly and with great trepidation. It felt like any of those nine could swoop down and strike at any moment. None of them knew if those Evas had that kind of capability but none of them were willing to take that chance. It wasn't long however until they were directly underneath the circle that the mass produced Evas made in the sky. "Okay, what now?" Asuka asked.

"I think we wait," said Shinji, who peered up above at the Eva Series. The sun was directly above them as well however which obscured his view of the menacing looking white Evangelions. Shinji was wondering whether his powers would have any effect now to help them with their fight. Past experience in situations like this seemed to indicate toward the contrary but if Shinji didn't try, he would never know.

"They're coming down!" Toji called out. It wasn't like they had expected however. They expected them to dive down like peregrine falcons, swooping down at high speed. Instead, rather anticlimactically, the mass produced Evas slowly descended towards ground, thankfully further away from the city. They planted themselves on the ground one by one, each one retracting its wings after landing. They were almost reptilian in appearance with a long extended head. The worst part of its appearance was the horrible and ugly smile it seemed to have on its snout. Each of these Evas wielded a massive and heavy weapon that had both the characteristics of a sword and a club. All of the Eva Series took up positions around the three NERV Evas, effectively encircling them.

"There are nine of them and three of us," Asuka said. "That makes it three each, although Toji's a bit of a rookie, so make that three and a half for Shinji and I and two for Toji."

"I resent that. I can take three," Toji said.

"Let's just see about that," Asuka said. There was a moment of utter calm when the three Evas and the nine mass produced variants stood still, simply staring at each other. In this moment of time, Shinji attempted to use his powers to dispatch the Eva series, only to find that, as per usual, the rogue forces which God put on this Earth to keep life as unpredictable as it was, stopped him. _Well, _Shinji thought,_ I can't say I didn't try. Now it's time to do this the old fashioned way! _All in one instant, Evangelions, both mass produced or otherwise, leapt out to do battle in what would be an epic contest of raw power.

* * *

Gendo was walking into the depths of NERV HQ with only one thing in mind. However, in order to fully pursue his intentions to fruition, he needed to find Rei Ayanami. She was in essence, a keystone to his plans becoming a reality. Gendo had a feeling that Rei would be waiting for him. He knew that this was her purpose, the sole reason she had been kept alive for this long. With her ultimate destiny at hand, there was no way that Rei would not be where Gendo expected her to be. Gendo took his steps quickly and firmly, such that the sound of his footsteps reverberated ever so slightly in these dark, dingy passages that made up the underworld of NERV HQ. As he approached his destination, he saw a shadow of Rei against the wall and quickened his pace towards her. Gendo Ikari felt that his time was near. His time to reunite himself with his long last wife would soon be coming. Nothing else in the world mattered now.

Gendo moved up to the shadow he saw of Rei and said, "I knew that you would be here." Oddly, he received no reply, causing the commander to move forward slightly. "Rei? Can you hear me?" Gendo asked. Again, there was no response from Rei. Gendo moved in to the source of the shadow to check up on the blue haired girl and ascertain why she was not responding. Gendo was quickly answered by the fact that it wasn't Rei at all, but rather an emperor penguin with a mop on its head, causing its shadow to look a bit like Rei's. Of course, the commander had a violent phobia of penguins so his reaction to seeing the penguin give a confused squawk involved screaming, flailing and then more screaming. He screamed so loud in fact, that Fuyutsuki just managed to barely make it out, but thought he was just hearing things.

In actuality, Rei was someplace completely else. Maybe her destiny was to begin a forced Third Impact, but Rei was completely unaware of that. Instead, she found herself drawn to the artificial penguin habitat where the majority of the penguins within NERV still resided. She seemed to feel at home with the penguins and enjoyed their company. She liked to see how they waddled about just to get from place to place. They amused her and it was a very difficult thing indeed to amuse Rei Ayanami. However, as much as she enjoyed sitting with the penguins, she felt as if there was a higher purpose she needed to serve with them. Rei slowly stood up and watched as one penguin after another began to waddle away in front of her. She began to follow them and in doing so, due to the unexplainable bond Rei shared with these emperor penguins, every single on of the emperor penguins in the habitat began to follow her. There, they began their journey to a purpose greater than any individual that took part in that march of grand scale and proportion.

* * *

In central dogma, all eyes were glued to the battle that raged on between the Eva series and the Evas of NERV. The fight was cagey, with neither faction really making a real move. The air inside NERV was thick with tension and it seemed as if everybody couldn't tear their eyes away from the scene ensuing on the screen in front of them. However, Makoto noticed something very odd on the surveillance pictures on his console. He averted his attention to check whether he was seeing things or not. What he saw was thousands of penguins heading through NERV HQ as if they were on the epic migration that emperor penguins made every year to their nesting ground. To add to his sheer amazement, the person leading this humongous pack of penguins was none other than Rei.

"Uh, I think I found Rei," Makoto said.

"What? Where?" Misato asked, quickly moving herself to Hyuga's console.

"Take a look for yourself," he said, moving aside so that Misato could get a better view. Misato scanned the screen to witness thousands of penguin heads bobbing up and down through the large corridors that made up NERV HQ. The sight astonished the Major whose jaw suddenly became slack at the spectacle. He quickly regained her composure after the initial shock and panned the camera so that she could see the front of the penguin pack and rightly enough, there was Rei, wondering ahead slowly, looking rather lost. Despite this, she paradoxically seemed to know where she was going with the penguins. Misato watched as Rei led the penguins onward through the base until she saw Rei reach the SAS soldiers who were still fending off the JSDF. "Rei," Misato said quietly. "You can't keep going…you've got to stop there." The worry in her voice was evident, as well as the relief in her sigh when Rei stopped and the penguins continued. In fact, the penguins headed straight for the JSDF troops.

* * *

"Sir, look what's coming!" called out a JSDF trooper.

"Is it the SAS advancing?" the officer in command asked.

"No sir…penguins!"

"What the hell?!" At that point, the JSDF troops were suddenly swarmed by hundreds and hundreds of penguins. "Agh! What do we do?!" cried one soldier.

"We weren't trained for this!" another added.

"Can't we just shoot the bastards?"

"No!" cried the officer. "Command, as well as the UN would have your ass! These penguins are supposed to be extinct! No shooting!"

"What do we do then?!" asked the squad's sergeant.

"Just try and push back up to our positions!" the officer ordered.

"With all due respect sir, these penguins are quite big and that doesn't seem either easy or wise!" the sergeant shot back.

"Well, I don't know what to do then! And I doubt command will even believe us if we told them," said the officer in command.

"I can't believe NERV pushed us back with penguins. Who'd have thunk it?" said a soldier.

"Shut the hell up," snapped another.

* * *

In central dogma, there were giant sweat drops on the heads of all those there. "Uh, that may have been the weirdest thing I have ever seen," Ritsuko muttered.

"Those penguins think Rei is some sort of messiah," Maya noted.

"Yeah," Shigeru agreed. "They like her enough to charge straight into heavily armed soldiers."

"I guess that's the JSDF dealt with," Misato said. "I guess those SAS guys must be embarrassed that penguins could do their job better than them."

"Um, yeah, about that, all those SAS guys are gone," Makoto said.

"Gone?!" Misato exclaimed.

"Yeah, gone," Makoto replied. "They've left a note from what I can see, but apart from that, there's no sign of them."

"A note? What does it say?" Misato asked.

"It's in English...hold on, getting a translation from the MAGI," Makoto said. "Okay, it says 'Happy to help. Lots of love from Captain Price, Gaz, Soap and the rest of us guys at 22nd SAS.' These names seem strangely familiar, like I've seen them somewhere before...maybe in a game..."

"If only we could thank them. They disappear as fast as they appear," Misato muttered.

"They are the SAS, after all," Ritsuko pointed out. "Anyway, weren't we doing something before we watched those penguins go?"

"Um…yeah, it was that fight with the Eva Series!" Maya said.

"Oh shit! Get that back on the main screen!" Misato cried. "I almost forgot about that!"

* * *

"TAKE THAT!!" Asuka cried as she literally slammed her prog knife into the abdomen region of the white Eva, causing it to violently lurch backwards. Asuka then pulled the knife towards her right, causing it to rip a chunk of the mass produced Eva out, bringing it to the ground. "I got one!" Asuka cried.

Unit 03 was locked with one of the Eva series at that moment. Their hands were clasped together as each one tried to gain the upper hand. Toji knew that he needed to end this if he was to keep himself safe from the other mass produced Evas that lurked about. In a sudden surge of strength, Toji's synch ratio spiked such that Unit 03's hands crushed the hands of the white Eva he was locked with. It was caused the mass produced Eva to stumble back which was enough for Toji to deliver a punch to its head. A loud crack ripped through the air as the blow caused a visible depression in the skull of the white Eva. Toji then pushed Unit 03 to plant a punch right in the chest of the Eva, one so immense that it pierced right through its body. The white Eva dropped to its knees before finally collapsing onto the ground.

Shinji was wielding his prog knife and began violently slashing at the nearest unit of the Eva series. The combination of strikes caused the white Eva's blood to spurt out across the hills that surrounded Tokyo-3. The lacerations on its body were deep and brutally delivered, taking that Eva out. "That's three down," Shinji said, becoming immersed in the battle.

"Six left," Asuka said. "Come on, we can do it!" Unit 02 charged forward at two of the mass produced Evas, trying to deliver a stab with the prog knife. This Eva proved a bit more difficult to bring down as it managed to get in a punch to the body of Unit 02, pushing it right into the arms of another of the Eva series. It seemed as if Asuka was trapped in the arms of a white Eva while another approached her with that menacing smile on its face. However, as soon as that Eva got close enough, Asuka powered Unit 02's legs into the air to smash the approaching Eva with an almighty kick. The momentum from the pushed Unit 02 and the Eva latching onto it back into a hill. Asuka quickly freed her self and planted her prog knife into the underside of the mass produced Eva's head through to the ground beneath it. She left her prog knife there before charging at the Eva she had kicked. It was on the ground and was attempting to get up until Asuka arrived on the scene. Unit 02 threw itself at the ground mass produced Eva before battering it in the head until a pool of blood surrounded its crushed skull. "I just took out two of the bastards," Asuka said in a low, breathy voice that had an evil quality to it.

Toji wrapped Unit 03's arms around the shoulders of one of the remaining Eva series units and gripped so tightly that it broke the bones that made up the shoulder region. Toji then shoved his prog knife into the back of the neck of the Eva before violently twisting it, taking out another of the Eva series. "That leaves three," Toji said.

One of the mass produced Evas attempted an attack on Shinji, charging straight at Unit 01. This was greeted by a knife straight into the neck of the white Eva. Shinji then stabbed it three times in the chest before delivering a roundhouse kick the landed right on the top of its head. The Eva collapsed on the ground in a heap before Shinji moved to the next one. This one swung its weapon at Shinji, only to be stopped by only the left hand of Unit 01. Shinji then used his prog knife to slice the hands of that mass produced Eva clean off before slashing at its throat, causing a jet of its blood to fly into the air. Shinji turned to face the last remaining unit of the Eva series. Not feeling liked attacking this one up close, Shinji picked up the weapon of one of the downed mass produced Evas and launched at the last remaining white Eva and watched as it went straight through the chest of the Eva. The last one crumpled to the ground immediately. "Holy cow! Shinji is one fire!" Toji cried with admiration.

From Asuka's comm. link, the cries of a baby emperor penguin could be heard, "Shinji, you're scaring Baxter!"

Shinji managed a smile despite being surrounded by lots of Eva blood. It wasn't a pretty sight to say the least. "Good work guys," Misato said over the comm. link. "And more good news; the JSDF has been driven from HQ by penguins."

"Penguins?" Shinji asked.

"Don't ask how or why. All we know is that Rei led them," Misato explained.

"Rei led them?! That's where she is! I was wondering where she got away to!" Asuka said. "She just missed the fight of a lifetime!"

"It was rather impressive guys," Misato said. "You did an excellent job out there. Now, come back and…what is it Maya?" There was a moment of silence where Misato turned off her comm. link, causing the pilots to wonder what was up. However, that was quickly answered when they heard horrible sounds of bones cracking and bodies setting themselves right. All around them, the seemingly defeated Eva series were all coming back to life despite even the most sordid of injuries. "You guys seeing this?" Misato asked.

"Yeah," Asuka replied, "and it isn't good.

"Not good at all," Toji agreed. Soon, no enemies left turned once again into nine and from what they just saw, it seemed these mass produced Evas were indestructible. It had seemed too easy to begin with and now Shinji could see why. "You have to destroy the cores," Misato said.

"I can't see them," Asuka said. "How can we expose them?"

"Ritsuko?" Misato asked.

"Working on it!" came the cry from the blonde doctor.

"Just try and hold them off as best you can," Misato said.

"Roger that," Asuka said. As soon as it seemed it was over, it was really just beginning. Shinji knew that he had a really big fight on his hands now.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. They belong to Anno and his crew at Gainax.

**Author's Note:** So here it is! The _FINAL_ chapter of Shinji Almighty!! It's been a blast writing this so far and I hope this goes down well! Thanks to everybody to read and reviewed this story and I hoped you've enjoyed the story overall. Anyway, without further a do, enjoy!

* * *

"So, to recap, these things just don't want to die," Asuka muttered. She was pretty much on the ball with her remark as the three Eva pilots watched as the nine units of the Eva Series, despite horrendous physical injuries, all come back to life. The white mass produced Evas even manage a smile on their intensely ugly heads. Shinji couldn't believe what he was seeing. No angel they had ever seen before was capable of what these unmanned Evangelions could do. Never had they seen an angel recover so quickly from wounds inflicted from close combat with an Eva. Then again, these weren't angels. It seemed oddly ironic that mankind was capable of creating an angel, so to speak, worse than any of the others that NERV had came across.

There was a tense standoff between the Eva Series and NERV's group of Evas. Neither seemed to want to make the first move and for the NERV Eva pilots, there was a great sense of trepidation over what damage making the first move would actually do. Asuka wasn't so apprehensive and drew her prog knife. "Let's see how you like this!" she cried as she launched it as hard as she possibly could at the nearest enemy Eva. Much to everyone's insurmountable horror, it literally caught the prog knife in between its teeth. Asuka was left stunned in her entry plug while Baxter looked up at his new master with a confused look on his penguin face. The pilots saw that the prog knife was beginning to disintegrate the teeth of the mass produced Eva before it quick spat it out as if discarding a toothpick.

"That went well," Toji said with his tongue firmly in cheek. "I don't think going straight in is going to do any good."

"What else can we do?" Asuka shot back. "We don't have any ranged weapons and I doubt they'll do much good anyway." Much to the frustration of the pilots, Asuka was right, which she herself was frustrated and annoyed at. There just didn't seem like a right way at trying to kill these Evas. Shinji silently attempted to use his powers to shift the balance of power in this fight towards them but he was once again prevented by greater forces at work in this universe. The odds still stood as they were, with nine seemingly invincible Eva Units against three pilots who had run out of ideas.

Suddenly, one of the mass produced Evas lifted up their weapon and launched it straight at Unit 01. Shinji summoned an AT field to stop the object but as it floated in front of him, it began to morph into something much more sinister. "The Lance of Longinus?!" Ritsuko cried from within Central Dogma. "It can't be!" The lance began to break through Shinji's AT Field and there was nothing he could do about it. However, Asuka wasn't going to let him go so easily. Just as the lance was about to penetrate the chest plate of Unit 01, Asuka grabbed the Lance and pulled it away from Shinji. She then launched it straight back at the enemy Eva that originally threw it and it went straight through its head. The lance stuck out of either end of the mass produced Eva's head but it did not go down. Instead, it grabbed the lance and pulled it straight out again. "Holy crap! It's not supposed to be able to do that!" Misato cried.

"Those are replica lances, yet they are still capable of penetrating an AT field," Ritsuko noted out loud.

"What I want to know is why that Eva Series Unit isn't dead?!" Misato asked. "It got that lance straight through its head and it stayed up standing!"

"Only a strike to the core of the Eva will kill it," Ritsuko pointed out. "It's just getting the core to expose itself which is the hard part."

"Where would the core be situated on one of our Evas?" Misato quickly inquired.

"Uh, around the central chest area," Ritsuko replied.

"Then hit those mass produced pieces of bullcrap right in the middle of the chest!" Misato ordered.

"Do you know how hard it is the breach the chest armour of any Eva?!" Ritsuko cried in disbelief at Misato's ploy.

"Well, just use the replica Lance things and we'll be fine, won't we?" Misato said.

"You're insane," Ritsuko muttered. She may have been insane but it was plain to see that Misato's plan was the only viable one. "I say we try Misato's plan!" Asuka said.

"Good grief," Ritsuko said, "you're all just as insane as her."

"Well, Ritsu, don't my insane plans always work?" Misato asked.

Ritsuko sighed and said, "You've got me there."

Asuka rushed towards the nearest Eva Series Unit and tried to grab its weapon off of it. However, it wasn't giving it up without a fight and began to tussle with Unit 02. "Oh, NOW they want to play ball!" Asuka cried through gritted teeth. As Asuka was locked with that Unit, other mass produced Evas began to move in on her which was where Shinji and Toji stepped in. "Not so fast!" Toji said. "You all require serious ass whipping. Doctor's orders."

"Crazy Major's orders, actually," Ritsuko pointed out as-a-matter-of-fact over the comm. link. Three of the white enemy Evas moved in on Shinji and Toji as Asuka still struggled to try and get a hold of the replica lance. Shinji pulled out his prog knife and shoved his knife up the abdomen of the nearest enemy Eva, using all Unit 01's force to shove the knife as far up as possible. Unit 01 however, received a smack in the head from another mass produced Eva wielding its weapon in its massive bludgeon form. Toji was quick to grab the arms of that Eva and break them with the immense strength in the hands of Unit 03. He then kicked that enemy Eva away before helping Shinji up to his feet. "We're just buying time!" Toji said. "And wasting our energy in the process!"

"We've got to keep trying though!" Shinji pointed out. "Asuka, how are you doing?!"

However, just after Shinji asked, he had a premonition of something horrible happening to Asuka. He needed to act quickly. "I'm okay…what the hell?!" was what came through from Asuka. Shinji saw it all happen in his mind; the mass produced Eva freed itself from Unit 02's grip before transforming the weapon in its hands into its Lance of Longinus form. Before Asuka could react, the enemy Eva swung the Lance at the waist of Unit 02. In the split second before the Lance struck the body of the Evangelion Unit, Shinji forced the ejection of Asuka's entry plug with his powers which thankfully worked this time. Luckily fate didn't want to kill his girlfriend. Just as Asuka's entry plug freed itself from the Eva, the lance cut Unit 02 in half right through the waist. "Asuka?! ASUKA!!" Misato cried from within Central Dogma.

* * *

Rei had been wondering all through NERV HQ ever since she led the penguins on their epic charge towards the JSDF. She felt as if she were looking for something but not quite knowing what it was. At first, she thought she had been looking for the penguins but now that she found them and led them into a one sided battle, Rei realised that it wasn't what she was trying to find after all. Something within NERV was drawing her to it. In fact, the closer she got to that sensation, she realised that there were in fact two things that she was being drawn to. She headed down a dark hallway, guided by instinct and gut feeling alone. She was completely unaware of the battle raging on above as she headed off into the darkness. Soon, she found a room she had been to many times before. The centrepiece of the room was a large, upright glass cylinder filled with LCL that Rei had been inside many times before when assisting the creation of the dummy plug.

She scanned the room and saw nothing seemed out of place. However, as she walked around, she noticed the unconscious form of Gendo Ikari lying face down on the ground. Next to him was an Emperor Penguin, patting the back of Gendo's head with its wing in curiosity. Rei knelt down by the penguin and stroked its head, running her fingers through its fine feathers. The penguin seemed to enjoy this and after Rei stopped, it was content enough to give a squawk of thanks before waddling off on its way. Rei managed a weak smile for her feathered friend, finding these penguins, at the very least, amusing. After the penguin was out of sight, Rei found herself drawn to something. At first, she thought it was Gendo Ikari but realised it was something that he had. Something in his right hand. Rei picked up Gendo's hand and removed the white glove that covered it. Underneath was a hand scarred by burns and most crucially, a hand that had the embryo of the first angel, Adam, embedded in it.

Rei held Gendo's hands tightly and focused on breaking down the barriers that prevent her from reaching Adam. In a moment too quick for the eye to see, the AT field in Gendo's right hand broke down just quickly enough that the embryonic Adam slipped out into Rei's hands. She stood up with the first angel held in the cup she formed with her two hands. Then, the angel appeared to melt into Rei's hands, merging with her body. Rei could feel the presence of the first angel inside herself. She could feel it wanting to expand from its embryonic form once more. However, Rei wasn't going to let that happen. She had something else to find, something much bigger. She didn't know why she was drawn towards it, but little did she know that it would be the beginning of a catastrophic event that could most possibly wipe out humanity as they knew it. Rei grabbed Gendo's security pass before heading down to wherever fate was leading her.

* * *

"Asuka…" Misato said weakly after watching Unit 02 fall into two separate pieces.

"Pilot life signs?!" Ritsuko cried, turning towards Maya Ibuki.

"They're not there!" Maya replied.

"What…they're gone?!" Misato shrieked in horror.

"No…they life signs are gone from the Eva! Asuka managed to eject!" Maya reported.

"She ejected?" Ritsuko asked. "How did she react quickly enough?! I barely saw that mass produced Eva swing that lance!"

"I don't know, but she's okay," Maya said.

"Shinji! Toji! Asuka's all right, she ejected! One of you, find her plug and get her out of there!" Misato ordered.

Out in the field Shinji looked towards Toji with an anxious look on his face. He wondered whether it showed in the way he was currently moving his Eva. "Go get her Shinji! I've got you covered!" he said. Shinji hesitated, not too sure whether to go or just to stay where he was and curl up into a ball. "Come on, go!" Toji urged once more and this time, Shinji set Unit 01 in a run to try and get to Asuka's vulnerable entry plug out of this incredibly dangerous area. He quickly found it next to the dismembered pieces of Unit 02 and picked it up. As he did, he had another premonition of great danger, this time it was towards Toji. Shinji turned around and this time he saw it happening.

Toji turned Unit 03 to face his enemy, only to find that he was vastly outnumbered. "Oh shit," he muttered as one of the enemy Evas launched its lance straight at Toji's doomed Eva. Thanks to Toji's athletic reactions, he managed to eject himself before the lance ripped clean through the throat of Unit 03. The lance's trajectory after piercing straight through Toji's Eva nearly took it straight at Unit 01, barely missing by a few metres. Shinji watched as Unit 03 still upright and still while the head simply toppled off its neck. The entire Evangelion then collapsed hard onto the ground.

Regardless off the danger it posed, Shinji ran in to get Toji's entry plug out of the path of the Eva Series. He wouldn't and he couldn't let Toji die like that after he had a near miss with death. Shinji spotted the plug on the ground and brought his Eva to a halt so that he could pick in up Toji safely before hightailing it in the opposite direction. He set Toji's entry plug next to where he put Asuka's and turned round to face the Eva Series alone. Instead, when he finally faced the Eva series, Shinji just barely managed to spot two lances flying at him at an incredibly high speed. All he could do was spot them; there was no chance of him reacting. They went straight into each hand of Unit 01 and the pain Shinji felt seemed heightened, either from adrenaline or his high synch ratio. He tried to move to get himself out of that situation but several Eva series units had grabbed him and to Shinji's absolute dismay, his Eva simply seized functioning as soon as he was in the grasps of the Eva series. Shinji knew that something was definitely not right.

* * *

Rei walked and walked on through the endless hallways and corridors in the backwaters so to speak of NERV. She felt lost, yet had the urge to keep going nonetheless. Her long journey had taken her right into the depths of NERV HQ and she was walking down a long sloped path that was leading her to a double door right at the bottom. It was eerily dark and the red hue of the little light there was also adding to the creepy aura of the place. Rei walked on regardless, focusing on the door in front of her, pushed forward by gut feeling and the angel that was inside her body. The closer she got to this door, the more she felt Adam inside of her, urging her on. Rei reached the end of this path and saw the ID card reader just beside the entrance. She swiped the commander's ID card through it and waited for the door to Terminal Dogma open in front of her.

Once inside, Rei walked up to the second angel, crucified upon a makeshift cross over a lake of LCL. "Lilith," Rei whispered as she stood in awe of what lay ahead. The angel was a large, bulbous mass of white on that red cross with a curious mask of seven eyes. Rei had found what she was looking for as the time for a vast change over humanity drew closer. She moved forward to the edge where the LCL met solid ground. The quantity of the orange liquid at her feet was enormous and all of it bled out of the wound in the second angel, caused by the Lance of Longinus penetrating Lilith's abdomen. The blue haired girl looked up at the mask hiding the face of Lilith. The head of the angel was slumped over to one side, as if it died a long time ago from the crucifixion.

Rei stepped out over the LCL and using the power of her newly awaken AT field, she began to walk through the air before levitating herself towards the heart of the fallen angel. Rei merged with Lilith whilst Adam was within her, uniting a forbidden union. The quiet, enigmatic girl had acted as a catalyst for what could be the beginning of the end. The second angel, having consumed Rei within itself, began to change. It slipped its hands off of the nails that pinned it to the cross and it pulled the Lance out of its body. The mask that covered its face slowly began to peel off, revealing the new face of Lilith. The second angel began to take the shape, form and appearance of Rei Ayanami as it prepared to begin the Third Impact. All the pieces were in place. There was no stopping it now.

* * *

"Why isn't Shinji moving?!" Misato yelled, watching the mass produced Evas lift a lifeless Evangelion Unit 01 into the air.

"His Eva isn't responding!" Maya cried.

"Pilot life signs are still present and normal but his comm. link is offline!" Makoto added.

"Damn it! What the hell is happening?!" Misato bellowed as she slammed her fist against the table in front of her.

"It is the beginning of Instrumentality," said the deputy commander. Everybody on the lower level looked up towards him, many with looks of insurmountable disbelief on their faces. "Not now," Ritsuko muttered. "Why did it have to be now?"

"You mean…we've lost?" asked a stunned Misato.

Just after those words left her mouth, a giant, white female form, much like a colossal apparition began to rise through the base. Screams and shrieks were let out as it went straight through solid walls like a ghost towards the surface. After it disappeared out of sight, the entire base began shaking. Then, with a tremendous roar, the Lance of Longinus shot up through the base the same way the giant white figure but instead of going straight through the walls, it demolished everything in its path, causing large amounts of debris to fall in its wake. "What the hell was that?! And why was the Lance of Longinus flying up following it?!" Misato bellowed.

"It is Lilith, the mother of humanity. With Evangelion Unit 01, the Eva Series, Lilith and the Lance of Longinus, it appears all the pieces are in place," Fuyutsuki explained, rather level headedly for a man that knew that the end of the world seemed imminent.

"So we have lost," Misato said, quietened by the sudden realisation.

"Not quite," the deputy commander expressed softly. "It is up to Shinji to decide the fate of mankind."

"But…we've lost radio contact," Maya pointed out. "How do we know if he'll make the right choice? How do we even know what he's going through?"

"We don't," Fuyutsuki replied.

"Jeez," Misato muttered. "Well Shinji, it almost seems like you're God up there, deciding everybody's fate and all. I might as well pray." Little did she know that he had been God all this time before, a fact that was of little consequence to them all now.

* * *

Unit 01 was high above Tokyo-3 now and joining it was Lilith in the form of a giant, naked, pure white Rei Ayanami. The Eva Series, some brutally disfigured with their battle wounds, floated there with Unit 01 marked with the stigmata on its palms. Shinji was sitting in the plug, looking very unimpressed. "You know, this sucks," he muttered. "The one I really need to kick some ass, Unit 01 seizes to function and the apocalypse begins to loom. Just peachy." Shinji saw the giant form of Lilith grow in size before eventually looking at his Eva through giant red eyes. "Is that…Rei?" Shinji asked himself quietly. Lilith slowly raised her hands so that they were either side of Eva Unit 01. "No…it can't be Rei," Shinji said. Then, just as the mass produced Evas began to move, time itself appeared to stop before Shinji's eyes. Suddenly, Shinji wasn't inside Unit 01, but outside looking at it. As well as that, he appeared to be standing in midair.

"Looks like the game is up, huh?" said the familiar voice of God. Shinji turned around to see God walking towards him out of an open door, cut out of the sky. He found the fact that God was walking through midair as if walking on the ground quite disorientating. "Do you have any idea what's happening, Shinji?" God inquired.

"Not a clue," Shinji replied.

"That's a shame. I thought you would know," God said, walking over to the frozen form of Lilith.

Shinji was rather confused, "What, you mean you don't know either?!" God turned his head around with a telling smile. "Ah, so you're pulling my leg!" Shinji exclaimed.

"You should know by now, Shinji. I am God, I know everything," the Morgan Freeman look-alike said with that smile still firmly planted on his face. "Although I don't let on, do I?" he added with a chuckle.

"You had me," Shinji agreed, managing a smile as well.

God turned away from Lilith and walked back towards Shinji. "You know, its ironic, no matter how different things may seem, fate still manages to get its way," God said.

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked.

"This would have happened even if I hadn't intervened with you all that time ago," God explained. "The Human Instrumentality Project."

"So, even with me having all your powers, nothing has changed?" Shinji asked, feeling rather down now.

"Well, not everything," God pointed out. "Think about the people you love, Shinji."

"The people I love?" Shinji asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's to put things into perspective on how they changed. If I let you continue without intervening like I did, Asuka would have been killed at the hands of the Eva series. Toji would be without a leg. Misato would have been shot and killed at the hands of the JSDF. Rei would have died once already at this point. Ritsuko would be dead, killed by your father. And your father would be left a man more broken than he already is," God said.

"And everybody in this arc of existence is alive and well?" Shinji asked.

"That is correct, thanks to you," God replied.

"And my dad was put firmly in his place?" Shinji further inquired.

"Yes, by a penguin," God answered with a chuckle.

Shinji smiled once more but it faded when he glanced over at the scene playing out in front of him. The Eva Series, Unit 01, Lilith, the Lance of Longinus, all would amount to Third Impact. "Even so, fate still wants the Instrumentality Project to go ahead?" Shinji asked.

"It was sealed as soon as man tried attempted to harness the Fruit of Eternal Life through the first angel, Adam, and inadvertently caused Second Impact," God said. "However, here's the twist in the tale." God cleared his throat quickly before continuing. "The act that you see before you, that was written by fate. However, the outcome is yet to be decided. That's where you come in," God said.

"Me?" Shinji asked.

"Yes, you Shinji. Fate would have transpired up to this moment where you would be required to play God."

Shinji's eyes widened at God's words. "So even if you hadn't done your things," Shinji said, "I would have still decided the outcome of the Instrumentality Project?"

"That's right. You would have been given all the powers of God anyway, if only for one, decisive moment," God answered. "And it is this one moment that defines who you are as a God amongst men."

"I don't get it," Shinji said. "Why did fate choose me for this? They could have chosen anybody."

"It is the mark left by your mother," God said. "When she became trapped inside Evangelion Unit 01, the road was set out for you. I just happened to make it a bit easier for you because I reckoned you deserved it."

"Thanks for that," Shinji said with a smile.

"No problem." God peered over to the scene that lay before them, knowing that it would have to be acted out soon.

"So, here it is, Shinji. The moment of the biggest choice of you life and most possibly humanity's existence. All I ask is that you make the right choice," God said.

"Any clues to what the right choice is?" Shinji asked hopefully.

"Sorry my friend, you're going to have to find that out for yourself," God replied. "Also, since my holiday is officially over, I can take my job back which means that I'm going to have to take my powers back from you."

"Aw, really?" Shinji said.

"Afraid so, son," God said with a chuckle.

"I had fun with them," Shinji said sadly.

"I know, I know, but this had to be done. Now, go forth and do what you must, Shinji Almighty," God said.

Shinji looked up at God before stealing a quick look at his Eva. He faced God once more and said, "Thank you, for everything. I am eternally in your debt."

"Eternity is a very long time, Shinji, you might want to take that back," God said with a laugh. "Now go on and make things right." Suddenly, Shinji found himself fading back into the plug of Unit 01.

* * *

Shinji watched as Lilith brought Unit 01 closer to her. The Eva Series all formed up around the purple Evangelion in an odd formation that was creating a resonating anti-AT field. Lilith smiled placidly as the Lance of Longinus moved up to Unit 01's throat before exposing its core and becoming enveloped inside that red orb within Unit 01. Shinji's vision inside the plug was slowly fading and he began to hear the consciousnesses of billions of human beings in his head, all at once. That was the intended effect of all this. All those consciousnesses were to be combined into one, single existence. Was that the right choice? Shinji wondered and couldn't find a single justification to let that happen. He couldn't let that happen. Humanity was special because of the individuals that made it up. Sure, there were some real assholes out there, but the miracle lay in the good humanity could do and the good inherent within this otherwise greatly flawed species.

"What does your heart desire?" the voice of Rei Ayanami asked softly as Shinji's vision faded to black. "What does your heart desire?" she asked once more. Suddenly, Shinji heard a drop of water and found himself in an empty room with a lone wooden chair in the middle. He couldn't see any of the walls because of the darkness but he knew he was in a room. Out of the black walked Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa with one of his hands still in his pocket as ever. The two of them each carried a wooden chair which they both placed down and sat on. "Please Shinji, sit," Kaworu said. Shinji didn't see any reason not to and sat down, facing the two of them.

"So Shinji, what is it that your heart desires?" Kaworu asked. "It is your first other?" Behind Rei and Kaworu, a screen appeared and project onto it were images of his mother who Shinji had never seen before that point. However, when he saw the moving pictures, he immediately knew that it was indeed Yui Ikari, mother of Shinji Ikari. They showed a woman smiling, holding a baby Shinji in her arms. "Or is it love?" Rei asked. The images quickly changed to that of Asuka Langley Sohryu, dressed in that yellow sundress she was wearing when they first met. "What are you, stupid?!" cried one of the images on that project. The sound of her voice seemed to echo into the darkness that surrounded them. There were various images of Shinji and Asuka together in each other's company, some in loving embrace, some highly suggestive which caused Shinji to smirk.

"Is it companionship and acceptance you desire?" Kaworu asked. Images of Toji and Kensuke showed up on the screen, sometimes involved in playful banter in Shinji. Next were images of Misato getting out of her car and removing her sunglasses that time she visited Shinji's school for a parent-teacher day. Shinji fondly remembered how Toji and Kensuke drooled as they peered at her outside the classroom window. Next were images of Kaji, Hikari Horaki and all the NERV staff that Shinji had grown to know. The last image was that of his father, strangely without his glasses or his beard with a smile, a very unusual expression for him, on his face. "Or is it power?" Rei asked next. The images showed Unit 01 in its berserk state, ripping various angels to shreds with its bare hands, becoming covered in blood in its wild frenzy.

"Enough," Shinji said. The screen disappeared out of sight while Rei and Kaworu sat still, unfazed by Shinji suddenly speaking up. "I was told that I had to make a choice," Shinji said. "What is that choice?"

"That choice," Rei said, "is in your heart. You must choose what your heart desires."

"What? Is that it?" Shinji asked.

"You will find no answers from us. It is up to yourself," Kaworu pointed out.

"That makes no sense! It's totally ambiguous!" Shinji cried.

"Then the inside of your heart makes no sense, and is ambiguous," Rei said. "The choice is there for you to make it. You must find it within yourself."

"But you haven't told me anything!" Shinji cried.

"Let me ask you again," Kaworu said with a smile, "what does your heart desire?"

With the reiteration of the question, it suddenly made sense to Shinji. It was also painfully simple. What he wanted in his heart was for this whole Instrumentality process to stop so he could get back to his life, his friends, everything he had worked so hard over the past few months to keep, albeit with a bit of up from high above. "I see you have found what you are looking for," Kaworu said.

"Yes," Shinji said. "I want this to progress no further. Instrumentality stops right here, right now. No human consciousnesses are going to become one, not now, not ever. I want life to return to normal and nothing more of Eva, the angels and anything like that to be around anymore."

"If that is the case, then we have nothing more to do," Rei said. "You have found what you desire. Our business here is done."

"Hey Rei, you're not going anywhere! You're coming back down to Earth as well! It's where you belong," Shinji said.

"Rei will be joining you, do not worry," she said.

"Uh, you're talking about yourself in the third person," Shinji said.

"It is because she is not truly Rei Ayanami, nor am I Kaworu Nagisa," Kaworu explained. "We are Adam and Lilith in a human form, a form which is comprehensible to you, Shinji."

"So the real Rei and Kaworu…?" Shinji asked.

"Rei is within Lilith," Kaworu replied. "And Kaworu was killed. You will see Rei again but unfortunately, not Kaworu."

"It's okay, I guess that's how things have to be," Shinji said. "So, is that it? Instrumentality is over?"

"Just say the word," Kaworu said.

"Okay," Shinji sad, "but before you do, I have one favour to ask."

"Let us know what your heart desires," Rei said with a smile. After Shinji was granted his last request, everything went white and Third Impact was stopped from ever happening.

* * *

Shinji opened his eyes and found himself lying down on a beach. He heard waves crashing on the shore while he was staring up at the sky. Shinji sat up and looked out at the ocean which was a pure azure, sparkling with the reflection of the sunlight. Lying next to Shinji was Asuka in that bikini she wore when they went swimming at the NERV swimming pool. In Asuka's arms was Baxter. Shinji stood up and it appeared as if time were frozen again. Out in the water playing with a beach ball was Toji, Kensuke, Rei and Hikari, all in their various swimwear. To his left were Misato and Kaji both sitting underneath an umbrella. Misato was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous in her swimsuit and her favourite sunglasses while Kaji had a Hawaiian style shit and swimming shorts on. To his right were two of the three main computer technicians, Makoto and Shigeru, kicking a football (soccer for anyone of an American inclination!) ball about. Further across was Ritsuko and Maya, both behind laptop computers, talking about something. Maya was in a one piece swimsuit while Ritsuko had a bikini on while curiously wearing her white lab coat over it. Shinji then looked behind him and underneath a palm tree was a desk. Behind it was Gendo Ikari, sitting with his hands clasped together in front of his mouth with his tinted glasses hiding his eyes. He was curiously wearing a Hawaiian style shirt, swimming shorts and sandals with Fuyutsuki dressed in the same attire, standing by the desk. All of this was frozen in time.

"Looks like you made the right call." Shinji turned around to see God in a Hawaiian shirt, swimming shorts and sandals as well. "Did I?" Shinji asked.

"Well, humanity is still humanity and not some false evolutionary pinnacle, right?" God said.

"I guess so," Shinji said. "So, fate its way?"

"Yup, and you got yours," God said. "I have to say Shinji; it has been good knowing you."

"I have to say the same," Shinji said. "You should probably go into politics after this." God laughed, remembering how Shinji asked whether he was a politician when they first met. "Maybe I will," God said with a smile. He extended his hand out which Shinji gratefully took. The strange relationship between the 14 year old Japanese boy and God who looked a lot like Morgan Freeman was exemplified in that handshake they shared. "Sayonara, Ikari Shinji," God said with a smile that a father would give his son.

"Domo arigato gozaimasu, Kami," Shinji said as he watched God walk away into the distance.

Suddenly, time started again and everybody went about the actions they were doing whilst in suspended animation. However, they quickly stopped. "How the hell…last thing I remember I was in NERV HQ?" Misato asked.

"And Instrumentality was taking place," Ritsuko added. All eyes turned to Shinji. "I think I stopped it," Shinji said.

"You stopped Third Impact?" Ritsuko asked. "Good! I couldn't have expected anything more!"

"All right Shinji!" Kaji added. There were cheers and applause all round for Shinji who had become a bit of a hero for NERV in stopping what could have been an event more catastrophic than Second Impact or anything they had ever known. "One thing still confuses me," Misato said. "Why are we on a beach in Okinawa?" It was a very good question, because nobody there except Shinji knew and the fact that you don't usually end up in a completely different place instantaneously. "Well, before I finished stopping Instrumentality," Shinji explained, "I asked if we could all be put on Okinawa."

"That means only one thing!" Asuka cried, getting up to her feet. "WE PARTY!!"

There were cheers all around as everybody savoured being on a sunny beach in Okinawa after Third Impact had been adverted. Asuka smiled at Shinji and grabbed a hold of him. "I don't know how you did it, but you did," she said before pulling Shinji's head in so that the two could kiss. It was long and drawn out, a kiss that the two needed after the intense battle that they fought with the Eva series. "Look! Shinji and Asuka are making out!" Toji cried from the water. Kensuke wolf whistled and Shinji and Asuka ended up blushing in embarrassment. Asuka was rather redder with rage, "SHUT UP BEFORE I GO OUT THERE AND POUND YOU MYSELF!"

Gendo and Fuyutsuki watched the younger generations enjoy themselves and the deputy commander couldn't help but smile. "I guess you couldn't see Yui," he said.

"That is true, but maybe the consequences of Third Impact were greater than I initially would have imagined," Gendo said with a sigh. "There is one thing I have learned from all this."

"And what is that?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Penguins are evil, evil creatures."

Shinji and Asuka walked hand in hand down the beach, seeing what there was to see. Asuka ran off into the crystal clear water, causing Shinji to follow. Asuka let the waves softly roll over her feet, basking in the glorious tropical sunshine. "This is just wonderful," she said with a smile as wondrous as the sunshine. Asuka drew Shinji in for another kiss but for something catching her eye in the distance. She looked over and said, "Is it just me or is that Morgan Freeman over there?" Shinji peered over to where Asuka was looking and saw God far in the distance with a grin on his face. Shinji smiled at the sight, knowing that he was with his friends and the planet was safe. And soon, God would be in his heaven, and all would be right in the world.

**THE END**


End file.
